During the Chuseok holiday, many families are expected to gather and prepare foods like jeon, …or pan-fried delicacies.<br />This means lots of cooking oil near fire …and requires extra caution.<br />Park Se-young has more.<br />In an experiment, the researchers heated up a pan full of cooking oil and let it sizzle as if it had been left unattended.<br />When the oil gets to about 380 degrees Celsius, it catches on fire.<br />When water is thrown on it, as often happens when people panic, the flames shoot up more than two meters high.<br />"The cooking oil itself is very hot. The sharp difference in the temperature of the water makes the fire worse and spatters the oil."<br />Dishwashing soap and ketchup are also dangerous.<br />They can cause flames to grow and spread or make cooking oil boil over and cause burns.<br />In emergencies, it can help to dump in lettuce or cabbage, which are both very moist, …or cover the pan with a moist towel to keep out the oxygen.<br />The best option is of course the fire extinguisher, but ordinary ones are not effective against cooking oil fires.<br />Kitchen fires usually require Class K fire extinguishers, but unlike restaurants, homes are not required to have these.<br />Of the roughly ten-thousand food-related fires in the last three years, nearly two-thousand were caused by frying oil.<br />Park Se-young, Arirang News.<br />
