Animal fats are rich in oil. That is the way nature stores the surplus from the good years beneath the skin. After we subject meat to heat in cooking, the fats congeal as grease. Whether meat or vegetable, grease has a low flash-point. Throw a piece of chicken skin on glowing coals and see what happens.

A Short History of Kitchen Fires

Stu Spivack Hob Fire

Unintended cooking fires have been a problem as far back as history goes. The Great Fire of London started in a bakery and reached 1700 °C / 3100 °F when it melted pottery. Cooks learned the need to keep kitchens clean and naturally ventilated. This helped until the advent of modern gas and electrically fired stainless steel cooking equipment.

The Installed Risk in Every Kitchen

In today’s rough and tumble kitchen environment, where speed is all important, accidental fires are easier to start. Poorly maintained gas equipment can cause flashbacks and explosions. Electric fryers may appear sealed to protect the electrical control components inside, but soon start leaking. When did you last see an undented pot in a big kitchen?

When Last Did You Really Inspect

State Farm Fire

This is not to say that chefs are untidy. They do their best, but are not technical so they only clean what they can see. If you are in the health and safety business, during your next inspection, examine the back or innards of appliances with a flashlight. We recommend you wear gloves and that’s not only because the edges are sharp.

How Kitchen Fires Start

When cooking oils heat up, they release atomized fatty globules in the air. As these settle, they descend on your hair, clothes, counter tops, and everything else. The industry solution is to vacuum it up into the exhaust hood, filter it and expel it to the air outside. There is just one problem. Hood filtration is not 100% efficient and if not regularly maintained filters admit the atomized grease into the duct where it accumulates.

How Kitchen Fires Spread

Every kitchen has the occasional small fire. Something short-circuits, a pot is forgotten, or a piece of meat is unattended on the broiler. Serious, sustained flare-ups should be easily dealt with by the automatic fire suppression system. The real danger is when the fire burns too long, the exhaust fan pulls the heat and flames into the duct where it ignites accumulated grease which burns unattended. This is the point where many kitchens start burning to the ground.

Stu Spivack Industrial Kitchen

Risks of Poorly Maintained Kitchens

The only way to prevent fires from happening is periodic inspections and maintenance by chefs and technically competent people. Appliances and exhaust systems that are not properly cleaned invites fire. Improperly maintained equipment could put your insurance coverage at risk.

Restaurant staff needs to know how:

• How to turn off the gas and electrical supply
• Manually pull of the automatic extinguishers
• Dangers that exists in the ventilation system

Staff may have just a few seconds before they run out of time. Regular inspections and preventative maintenance prevents serious fires.

We Value Your Input

Please email us at info@philackland.com if you have suggestions, or points you would like to see included in this post.

About Phil Ackland

Phil is a member of the NFPA 96 Committee. He has written several books on inspecting and the investigation of commercial kitchen systems fires. Thousands of restaurant management, fire inspectors and investigators have attended Phillip Ackland Holding’s accredited one and two day seminars on Understanding Commercial Kitchen Systems.

Attend One of Our Seminars

Dates and locations for these seminars are posted and updated regularly on our website. If you would like to have a seminar scheduled in your area contact our event coordinator, Samuel Musico (sam@philackland.com).

Image Credits

Stu Spivack Hob Fire https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/3112095403/

State Farm Kitchen Fire https://www.flickr.com/photos/statefarm/10994875346/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/3112095403/

Stu Spivack Industrial Kitchen https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/3112095403/

This news illustrates what we see as a very positive trend, enhanced cooperation and cross training between code officials, health inspectors and insurance agents. All play a key role in ensuring the general safety of the public and the preservation of property and lives.

Commercial kitchens present many potential hazards to public health and safety. Our training seminars are designed to provide all with a better understanding of what these hazards are and how they can be prevented.  It is our hope that the already broad base of professionals who benefit from such training will continue to expand.

Mark Finck – Instructor

The event was held at the PG&E Food Service Technology Center and was hosted by Fisher-Nickel, Inc and the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. The event was well attended with representation from various Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), public and private fire investigation professionals, code officials and others seeking to deepen their overall understanding of commercial kitchen systems. Some traveled from as far as Bakersfield to benefit from this unique educational opportunity. Although the focus of the training was specifically on the investigation of commercial kitchen fires, attendees were given a broad understanding of commercial kitchen systems including appliances, ventilation and fire suppression, that could be applied to a number of fields. Attendees had the added benefit of hearing briefly from Don Fisher of Fisher-Nickel, Inc. speak about kitchen energy efficiency and the many innovations and advancements that are being tested and evaluated at the FSTC facility. He invited all in attendance to tap into the wealth of information available at the FSTC. In addition to the classroom instruction, a tour of the FSTC lab as well as the PG&E facility kitchen was arranged, giving attendees an valuable opportunity to see these complex kitchen systems in action.

Phillip Ackland Holdings would like to sincerely thank Don Fisher and the entire Fisher-Nickel team for their support and assistance as well as the use of their outstanding facility.

Course Manual

International Code Council (ICC) CEU credits now available

Phillip Ackland Holdings has recently partnered with the International Code Council (ICC) as part of their Education Provider program. This means that effective immediately valuable Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will now be issued to students for successful completion of all future courses. Initially, they are available for the popular Inspecting Commercial Kitchen Systems and Investigating Commercial Kitchen Fires courses respectively.

“The ICC has been a valuable ally for us many years offering us invaluable support in compiling our manuals. We are excited to see this partnership expanding.” – Phil Ackland

With many fire prevention officials facing diminishing budgets for education, it is hoped that providing these credits at no additional charge will be an added incentive to take advantage of these already valuable training opportunities. Insurance professionals will continue to be issued CEUs for their respective councils as well. domain archive .  An up to date class calendar can be found at www.philackland.com or by following us on LinkedIn.

ICC CEUs now available

Hudson’s academic career and investigative interests are his greatest assets. He has a number of credentials in forensic and other sciences, and currently teaches investigation courses at the British Columbia Institute of Technology among other outlets. As a clinician, Hudson worked in forensic psychiatry for a number of years, before being recruited by Douglas College to teach in the Health Science Faculty. He remained there for 24 years before moving the BCIT.

For nearly 10 years, Hudson has worked concurrently as a front-line investigator, inspecting allegations of professional misconduct and incompetence by a range of health care professionals. Hudson has written a number of books and manuals on his areas of expertise.

Phillip Ackland Holdings now offer one and two-day seminars focusing on the specialized field of forensic interviewing to the fire inspection and fire investigative communities, utilizing Hudson’s unique training techniques and insights into communication, investigation and interrogation. Please visit our website at www.philackland.com for details.

Prime Minister Steven Harper greeted Phil Ackland and his wife Therese this afternoon as they all arrived at the Gold Rush Best Western Hotel in Whitehorse.

Mr. Ackland is in Whitehorse at the invitation of the Yukon Deputy Fire Marshal, Kevin W. Taylor. His mission is to train territorial and municipal fire officials on fire inspection and investigation of kitchen systems.  Ackland a renowned expert in commercial kitchen fire safety gained the moniker Guru of Grease from his knowledge of the combustible residues that accumulate in restaurant systems.

Mr. Harper is in Whitehorse on his annual trip to the North, to meet with the party faithful and local government officials to announce a new initiative for funding education.

Asked afterwards what their major concerns were, Mr. Ackland one of the longest sitting members of the National Fire Protection Association Standard 96 committee commented “…Fires in these systems cost hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Like so many public officials, the Prime Minister’s concern for fire safety is well known and ongoing.  We intend to find time to discuss the issue further, as scheduling allows. Ackland continued, “I know a thing or two about preventing and especially putting out fires; something the PM might be interested in.”

On the matter of personal security, Mr. Ackland mentioned that it only made sense that both of them were staying in the hotel at the same time as it saves taxpayer’s money.  Again something Mr. Harper is deeply concerned with.

Both parties will be continuing their travels around the Yukon in the coming days.

Close up of a greasy capillary tube

Deep fat fryers are particularly susceptible to poor mechanical maintenance.  Thermostats and shut-off relays that are not properly maintained can fail, resulting in the burners continuing to heat the oil to autoignition temperatures.

Most fryers operate with two capillary type thermostats.  These consist of a sealed reservoir of fluid (usually xylene) connected to a diaphragm and switch by a narrow copper tube.  As the temperature increases, the liquid expands, causing movement of the diaphragm, which, in turn, pushes on a small switch and opens a set of contacts and shuts down the burners.  In gas units, these contacts are in series with the pilot verification thermocouple.  Opening the contacts de-energizes the electromagnet and a spring closes the main gas valve.

The capillary tubes are subject to breaking when the fryer is cleaned.  When that happens, the fluid leaks out, and the thermostat no longer responds to heat.  The fryer will keep working, because the contacts will stay closed.  The temperature is then under the control of the high limit thermostat.  The oil may smoke, but many restaurant operators keep on cooking.  If the high limit switch were to fail, there will be a fire.

Fryer thermostat with capillary tube (left)

In some fryers, the high limit thermostat will include a “negative biased” reservoir that is slightly below atmospheric pressure, so that if the capillary tube breaks, the loss of negative pressure will open the circuit.

The fryer cannot operate in this condition; however, it takes only a minute to bypass the safety.  If it is the high limit capillary that breaks first, and it is tampered with, the operating thermostat will control the oil temperature until the second capillary breaks.  Then there is no control to stop the burners from continuing to operate.  This will result in autoignition of the cooking oil.

A laboratory examination of the fryer can reveal that the safety device has been tampered with; there has been an overheating of an empty vat causing metal fatigue, and/or improper or inadequate maintenance of the unit has recently taken place.

See additional articles on philackland.com.

Phil Ackland has been in the field of commercial kitchen fire investigation and education for over 40 years. https://www.philackland.com/. He sits on the NFPA 96 committee, has been a qualified expert witness and is a consultant to attorneys and insurance companies. He has written a series of books on these systems.  The most recent A Guide for Commercial Kitchen Fires – Prevention and Investigation. His seminars have been attended by 1000’s of fire inspectors and fire investigators. https://www.philackland.com/courses/

Mark Finck has extensive expertise in all aspects of commercial cooking equipment and a comprehensive background in kitchen operations.  Mark has served on the NFPA 96, ASHRAE and other safety code committees. He is a subject matter expert in commercial kitchen ventilation, appliances and flame broilers.     https://www.philackland.com/fire-investigation/the-associates/mark-finck/