A chef's quick, calm, appropriate action can be the difference between keeping the cook line operating and closing the restaurant for some dramatic cleanup and mind-boggling amounts of paperwork.

"DANI"! I heard in a frantic voice (that's how my name is often spelled in Italian. Ricardo was staring saucer-eyed at the blaze, speechless, as if his voice had been carried off in the back draft. I jumped in front of him and poured some cold water into the sauce and it cooled down at once. I pulled the sauce out of the fire (a solid $20 entry on my food cost line). I began smothering the flames by tossing salt on the fire, aiming for the most intense parts and hoping to absorb all the fat with the salt.

It was the biggest fire that I'd seen to that point in a restaurant kitchen and there was a moment when I thought that it just might have been a little more than the salt could handle. But the flames were in confined to one section of the line and weren't getting any worse so I kept at it, tossing handfuls of salt, the way a baker flours his board, and the hotspots began to subside. Even though we kept a lot of salt on the pasta station, a half gallon bucket, I began to run low. I turned to bark to Ricardo to bring more salt.

He was nowhere to be found. I dashed to the prep area and refilled my salt bucket and finished dousing the flames. Once the danger was over I went to find out what had happened to Ricardo. Undoubtedly he was scorched by the fire. It was, after all, pretty high and happened very quickly.

I soon found Ricardo unscathed, standing 30 feet outside the building waiting for the danger to pass. "Thanks for all your courageous help, Smokey," I snarled, "Now get in there and clean up that mess."

Ricardo acted in the interest of self-preservation, only too eager to allow someone else deal with the mess and danger. But an experienced chef understands that he's the first and most important line of defense for the safety of his kitchen staff and customers as well as the continuity of service for the restaurant. A chef's quick, calm, appropriate action can be the difference between keeping the cook line operating and closing the restaurant for some dramatic cleanup and mind-boggling amounts of paperwork.

There's Nothing Unusual about Fire in the Kitchen

All day long, from the minute they step on the line for prep until the scrub-down at the end of the shift chefs deal with fire. They control it, manipulate it, use it as they see fit. Cooking to order requires high heat, hot pans and hot oil. Most chefs I know can't get enough fire. They'd do anything they can (even some dangerous things) to get more BTU's out of their ranges. (BTU is a British Thermal Unit, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.)

Flare-ups, whether they be intentional flambées or incidental spills are as commonplace as a burger with fries. Chefs deal with these minor nuisances without taking time to think. But with the abundant presence of open flames, flammable liquids and grease everywhere, those minor flare-ups can become major fires in the wink of an eye.

If the cooks fail to contain the fire quickly, it will trigger the fire suppression system, resulting in days of downtime for the restaurant. Of course an unabated fire is a terrible thing to happen to a restaurant but in some cases, it's only a little bit worse than the fire suppression system working as designed. -- Dan Butler

The Infernal Triangle

Fire needs three elements to survive:

Heat Fuel Oxygen

Those are three elements that are literally everywhere in the professional kitchen. In fact, it's the chef's job to work with all three when he cooks. There's always plenty of heat in a kitchen, conveniently available in the form of flame in the case of gas ranges.

The fuel can be any food item but it's generally the fat or grease contained therein that presents the fire hazard. Especially when it's readily deployable, like a bottle of cooking oil, a pound of butter or alcohol like brandy used for cooking

Other fuel sources might be flammable cleaning liquids or even the gas itself, or grease buildup in hood vents or grease catch pans. The third component, oxygen, obviously is everywhere. It happens that it is usually the simplest leg of the triangle to remove (think "smothering").

When Bad Things Happen to Good Kitchens

A fire in the kitchen that gets out of control, even briefly, can wreak havoc on a professional kitchen. Aside from the fire and smoke damages, the actual extinguishing can cause its own set of problems. The fire suppression system located in the hood is activated when the temperature reaches a point sufficient to melt a cable that deploys the chemical agent stored in canisters usually above the hood in the ceiling or alongside it. Most are wired to signal the fire department when deployed.

In general, if the fire suppression system is activated, an inspection by the health department is required before re-opening to ensure that the chemical agent has been thoroughly cleaned. The fire marshal will need to verify that the system has been properly re-charged by the fire equipment company -- yet another appointment. And the actual cleanup can be a several day job in itself.

If a hand-held Class K extinguisher (used for cooking-oil fires) is used, the interruption may not be quite as dramatic but there's a pretty fair chance that the line won't be functioning again that night. The dry chemical agent that comes from this extinguisher will also need to be thoroughly cleaned and inspected.

It's not much of a stretch to say that once a chef has seen a fire suppression system in action, that is, dumping its agent everywhere in sight, he will go to great lengths to never see it again.

How much Firefighting is Safe for a Chef to Undertake?

The advice of fire safety professionals is to evaluate a fire to determine if it is confined to a manageable area and not spreading, it does not block the exit and proper extinguishing equipment is available and in working order.

One fire official advised me that if one Class K extinguisher didn't control the fire, don't look for a second one, just get out! But there certainly are steps that a chef can and should take to diffuse a small fire before it becomes a big one. It's a matter of removing one of the legs of the triangle.

Heat. Once a fire is started, it's impossible to eliminate heat without the use of a chemical.

Fuel. If gas is burning, cut off the gas supply main usually located behind the equipment on the supply pipe at the beginning of the equipment run.

Oxygen. Apply the basic concept or covering a blazing pan with a lid to smother the fire to other fires and it becomes clear that depriving the fire of oxygen is the most common and simplest way of combating manageable fires.

Smother the flames with baking soda or salt or even thick, damp towels (as long as they don't ignite as well). As soon as a kitchen fire even appears to be beyond the control of the staff, it is important to call 9-1-1, and take precautions to evacuate the building in a calm and orderly fashion. The Upshot: Proper Cleaning is Equal to a Pound of Prevention

Proper, routine, scheduled kitchen cleaning is the one thing that a chef can do immediately to improve the safety of his kitchen. Grease that is caked on to dirty hood vents is a terrific fuel for fire. Once that grease ignites, the likelihood of anything but a firefighter's axe extinguishing it is pretty slim. Eliminating one of the fire triangle legs from a duct fire is very difficult. There's virtually no way to eliminate the source of oxygen and the grease and the heat will only expand as the fire grows.

Grease that builds up under burners or on grills or broilers can catch fire at the most inopportune moments. They can usually be contained by using the remedies above but 8 p.m. on a Saturday night is not the time for oven cleaning. Set a cleaning schedule for all the equipment that's susceptible to grease build-up s and stick to it!

Checklist: Quick Remedies for Contained Kitchen Grease and Oil Fires

Lids Salt Baking soda Clean hand towels Type K fire extinguisher

Checklist: Do Not Use on Fires

Water -- It makes hot fat explode and sends fireballs airborne. Flour - Although it would seem as though the flour would smother the fire, it actually explodes, which is never a desired affect when combating fires. Sugar -- It's not non-flammable, as your pastry chef might confirm.

Electrical Fires are another Breed

Electrical fires are a different breed and should not be handled in any way similarly to any of the kitchen fire scenarios discussed in this article. The National Fire Protection Association categorizes fires involving energized electrical equipment, such as appliances and hot plates as "Class C." Carbon dioxide extinguishers are best suited for these types of fires. Water can be a dangerous extinguishing medium for class C fires because of the risk of electrical shock unless a specialized water mist extinguisher is used.

Your local fire department or fire extinguisher supplier can provide valuable information and training resources to prepare, prevent, and deal with all types of conflagrations. Take advantage of these resources.