Fire blankets

Last updated: June 16, 2008.

We all make mistakes—but some mistakes are serious enough to put your life at risk or even kill you. If you're foolish enough to leave your stove unattended, you can cause a serious, life-threatening fire. But you can make matters far worse by tackling a fire like that the wrong way. One thing you must never do is put water on a hot oil ("chip-pan") fire, because that can produce a massive fireball. A good way to tackle chip pan fires is to use a simple fire blanket. What are fire blankets and how do they work? Let's take a closer look!

Photo: A basic fire blanket removed from its protective plastic case and ready to use. Note the black tapes at the bottom that you pull on to release it. Get one of these and hang it up in your kitchen, away from the stove, where it's ready if you need it.

Break the triangle

Most everyday fires need three things to be present: heat, oxygen (from the air), and fuel. As long as there's plenty of all three, a fire can go on burning indefinitely. But take away one of them and the fire will go out. This idea is called breaking the fire triangle and it's the basic theory of fighting most fires. You can put out a fire by cooling it down (removing the heat), cutting off the air supply, or getting rid of the fuel (the usual way to do this is to remove combustible materials from near a fire and stopping it from spreading with things like fire breaks).

Photo: Breaking the fire triangle: removing one or more of heat, air (oxygen), or fuel is the way to tackle most everyday fires.

If a fire breaks out in your home, generally the best thing to do is get out as quickly as possible without panicking, close the doors behind you, and call the fire brigade. But it may be safe for you to tackle a small fire yourself, in the early stages, with a fire extinguisher or a fire blanket. If you have a hot oil (chip pan) fire in your kitchen, the most effective way to tackle it is to place a fire blanket on top of it to cut off the oxygen supply. If you have no fire blanket, soak a tea towel in water, wring it out, then place that completely over the pan. Both of these methods break the fire traingle by removing air.

How not to tackle a chip-pan fire

Never throw water onto a hot oil (chip-pan) fire. What happens is that the water will boil and turn to steam extremely quickly, throwing a huge spray of burning oil droplets high into the air. Because the oil is burning, spreading it out like this gives it rapid access to much more oxygen—and this is what causes a fireball. If you want to see how deadly this can be, watch this public service video on YouTube made by the British Fire Brigade. It shows you how to tackle a kitchen fire safely and calmly.

Never use a fire extinguisher on a chip-pan fire, for the same reason. A water extinguisher will have the same effect as throwing on water, a carbon dioxide extinguisher will blast and spread the hot burning oil, and a powder extinguisher can cause an explosion. That's why a fire blanket is generally the best thing to use.

More about fire blankets.

Fire blankets are made from thick wool treated with a flameproof coating, fiberglass, or flameproof synthetic materials such as Nomex® and Kevlar®. They're not just for chip-pan fires: you can use them to help tackle chemical fires wherever it's safe to do so. You can also wrap them around someone whose clothes have caught fire, or you can wrap them around your body to help you escape from flames.

Photo: You can clearly see the woven fiberglass in this blanket. It looks and feels a bit like a sturdy, flameproof tablecloth.