The Kitchen Survival Guide: How to Cook Without Burning Down Your Home

The kitchen is where more fires start than any other room — at home and in business alike. It's the one place you mix open flame, high heat, hot oil and gas with towels, paper and packaging, often while distracted. The good news: kitchen fires are among the most preventable, and almost all of them are small at first. Here is everything that matters, in order of importance.

Rule #1 — Never put water on an oil or grease fire

This is the most important sentence in this guide. If a pan of cooking oil or fat catches fire, water will make it explode. The water sinks, flashes instantly to steam, and blasts burning oil up and outward in a fireball that can reach the ceiling. People are badly burned this way every year.

If oil ignites:

1. 1.Turn off the heat — if you can reach the knob safely.
2. 2.Smother it. Slide a lid or a flat metal tray over the pan, or drop a fire blanket over it. No air, no fire.
3. 3.Leave it covered until completely cool — don't peek, and don't carry a burning pan to the sink or outside.
4. 4.If it's already spreading, get everyone out and call 112.

Rule #2 — Never leave cooking unattended

Most kitchen fires start when someone steps away "just for a minute." Frying and deep-frying are the highest risk. If you must leave the kitchen, turn off the hob. When deep-frying:

• Never overfill the pan with oil, and never lower wet or frozen food into hot oil — the water causes a violent eruption.
• If the oil starts to smoke, it's too hot — turn the heat down. Smoking oil is seconds from ignition.

Rule #3 — Respect gas

A gas hob adds an invisible danger. In Georgia, the memory of the 1984 Tbilisi gas explosion (a nine-storey block, over 100 dead) is reason enough to take gas seriously.

• If you smell gas, do not light anything and do not touch electrical switches. Turn off the supply, open windows, and leave; call the gas service or 112.
• Make sure the burner actually lights — an unlit burner leaks gas silently.
• Watch for boil-overs that can put out the flame and leave gas flowing.
• Turn knobs fully off after cooking.

Rule #4 — Clean the hidden fuel: grease and range hoods

Grease builds up invisibly in range-hood filters and ducts. Once it ignites, it spreads fire through the walls and roof — this is exactly how kitchens and restaurants are gutted. Clean filters regularly and don't let grease accumulate on or above the stove.

Rule #5 — Keep the danger zone clear

• Keep flammables away from the hob: tea towels, paper, oven mitts, packaging, curtains, and aerosol cans.
• Turn pan handles inward so they can't be knocked — and so children can't grab them.
• Keep children and pets away from the stove while cooking; set a "no-play zone" around it.
• Don't cook in loose, dangling sleeves that can catch a flame.

Rule #6 — Keep a way to stop a small fire

Because kitchen fires start small, the right tool nearby ends them fast:

• A fire blanket is ideal for pan and clothing fires — smother and done.
• A fire-suppression ball or extinguisher handles a small fire that's spreading. Keep it *near* the kitchen exit, not directly above the stove (so you're never reaching over flames to get it).

The rule that ties it together: if the fire is bigger than you, or between you and the door — leave and call 112.

Your kitchen checklist

• [ ] Everyone knows: water never goes on an oil fire
• [ ] A lid or fire blanket is within reach of the stove
• [ ] Cooking is never left unattended; hob off when you leave
• [ ] Gas knobs fully off; you know what to do if you smell gas
• [ ] Range hood/filters cleaned; no grease buildup
• [ ] Towels, packaging and aerosols kept away from the hob
• [ ] A suppression ball or extinguisher near the kitchen exit

Cook with confidence by making the kitchen the safest room, not the most dangerous one. That's what ORDEX is built to help you do.

Sources: 1984 Tbilisi gas explosion — Wikipedia. Oil-fire and gas-hob guidance corroborated by Georgian-language home-safety and appliance sources. Emergencies: dial 112 (free, nationwide) — 112.gov.ge.