Fire Department

A McKenna Boulevard resident was hailed a “hero” by firefighters for his swift actions to contain and extinguish a cooking fire in his kitchen. 

Ladder Company 7 and other west side fire companies were dispatched to the McKenna Woods Apartments to investigate a fire alarm there. Upon arrival, firefighters were met by an occupant who said he had a small fire in a frying pan but the fire was out. He explained he’d been heating a pan of oil when the oil became too hot and caught fire.

The occupant “was smart and calm enough to move the pan into the sink and put out the fire with flour,” reports the fire lieutenant who responded to this scene. By tossing flour on the oil-based fire, the occupant snuffed out the flames entirely. Applying water to it, which is a common instinct for people confronting oil-based cooking fires, would likely have made matters worse. The best course of action is to always cook with a fitted lid and using that lid to cover the flames and snuff out the fire.

A fair amount of smoke lingered in the apartment following the fire, but there was no damage, no injuries, and nobody was displaced. Firefighters ventilated the building and reset the alarm before returning to service.