How I Caused A Kitchen Fire

Yesterday the weather turned colder so I got out my bread machine and set up a loaf for dinner. I placed it on my flat topped stove because I don't have a very large kitchen and the counterspace was full. This was a big mistake.

Somehow, the back burner got switched on, right underneath the bread machine. The machine was high enough that I couldn't see that the knob was turned and I didn't notice the little light. An hour and a half later, I noticed acrid smoke coming from the kitchen. I went out there and must have stirred up the air because the whole thing went up in flames right as I walked in the kitchen. I was able to unplug it, grab the fire extinguisher and put it out quickly but if I had not been right there . . .

My kitchen is a mess, there is some residual burned plastic still stuck to the back burner and the bread maker is toast! But my kitchen is not burned up, or the rest of my house or my kids, so I feel pretty lucky indeed.

Here are my tips for preventing this from happening again:

• Don't Use Your Stove As Counterspace: I have melted plastic cutting boards and rubber spatulas before. I should have known better. But that flat expanse is just so tempting. Anything that goes on the stove should be non flammable and placed there only temporarily.
Advertisement


• Don't Leave Your House With An Appliance On:
This counts for your oven and clothes dryer as well as slow cookers, coffee pots and, of course, bread machines. I had actually just gotten back to the house about 20 minutes before it caught on fire. If I had not been there, the kitchen and probably the entire house would have been in flames when I got back.
• Check Your Smoke Alarm: We have a hardwired hallway smoke alarm in our little house. For some reason, it didn't go off. We check it every New Year's but now I'm going to check it more often. I also might get another smoke alarm for closer to the kitchen, the place where fires happen most often.
• Have Your Fire Extinguisher Handy: Do you have a working fire extinguisher? Is it in your kitchen, maybe under the sink? Mine wasn't, it was still in a box in the garage from when we bought it months ago. Luckily, I knew right where it was and was able to run out and put out the fire. But sometimes seconds matter. It is also a good idea to have two extinguishers in different locations. If it had been under the sink, the fire might have prevented me from getting to it.
  Advertisement

  
  

• Have A Family Fire Plan: I plan to have a fire drill tonight to talk about what we would do in a real emergency. I had trouble getting the kids to understand what was going on yesterday. If you haven't sat down recently to talk about fire safety and your emergency plan, please take some time this weekend to do it.

Sorry I don't have photos, I thought about it after I had most of it cleaned up. I hope some of you can learn from my mistakes and stay safe.

Jess