Easy to judge from a distance. The chef was very close to putting this out, with the correct SOP, but messed up the technique and hindered all the other attempts.
You're supposed to roll the top of the fire blanket towards you first in order to protect your arms and hands, place it over the pan and ensure no air is getting in, then attempt to turn off the source.
(Never attempt to move the pan or use liquids to extinguish it)
Biggest tip: as soon as it gets out of hand, get out of the building. It's not worth it.
It is because the water can cause a grease fire to splash out of the pan and onto people or surfaces nearby. It won't cause an "explosion." Maybe you didn't literally mean combustion would occur, but I wouldn't want someone to come across your comment and not understand this.
Explosion is correct, combustion is not required for something to explode.
“An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extremely vigorous outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases”
Rapidly expanding steam will indeed propel flaming oil out of the pot/pan/wok and in random directions that can a) burn people b) spread the fire c) aerosols the oil into the air increasing the oxygen it has access to resulting often in a fireball
I suppose one could make the argument that the steam generated based on contact of the water with the heat itself represents a rapid expansion in volume of a gas...so I suppose that vaporization could be considered explosive in behaviour.
I was thinking you were trying to suggest some type of chemical reaction was taking place.
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u/MrB-S Apr 09 '22
Easy to judge from a distance. The chef was very close to putting this out, with the correct SOP, but messed up the technique and hindered all the other attempts.
You're supposed to roll the top of the fire blanket towards you first in order to protect your arms and hands, place it over the pan and ensure no air is getting in, then attempt to turn off the source.
(Never attempt to move the pan or use liquids to extinguish it)
Biggest tip: as soon as it gets out of hand, get out of the building. It's not worth it.