Julie Luck:
Well do not trust your instincts. The right way to battle a flame? This one does not involve water. The tricks you need to know and what you definitely do not want to try.
Speaker 2:
Ooh.
Frank Mickens:
Wow. Did you see that? Well, our 2 Wants To Know crew working with the Greensboro Fire Department to show you what water does on a grease fire and it’s pretty scary and looking.
Julie Luck:
Very frightening. Well, 2 Wants To Know’s Tanya Rivera was right next to the photographer when that happened.
Tanya Rivera:
I have to tell you, I don’t have words to describe how scared I was when that fire exploded and we were right there on the other side. None of us expected that that was going to happen. But that’s really the whole point of this story. Lots of families don’t expect a fire to happen in their homes.
Tanya Rivera:
If you don’t think pouring water on a grease fire is dangerous, you might think this firefighter is over dressed for this experiment.
Tanya Rivera:
You would be wrong. Check it out in slow motion. Watch as the fire explodes, hitting the ceiling and then rolling over the room.
Speaker 5:
You see what happens. When that fire comes up, if you’re standing right in front of it, then you’re fully involved. You’re in your own fire at the end.
Tanya Rivera:
Greensboro firefighters, they knew we shouldn’t be in the room when they put water on the fire. You can see our camera’s reflection in the window. All of us though were surprised when the next couple of water was poured out.
Speaker 6:
You all right, Fred?
Fred:
Yeah.
Tanya Rivera:
The video needs no explanation, but how to keep this from happening does, because most of our instincts are wrong. The right way to put out a grease fire is to smother it.
Fire Fighter:
Quickest thing to do, grab your pot holder, make sure you have a long one. Find your lid. Going to take this lid, slide it over the top of the pot, turn the burner off. Leave it 15-20 minutes.
Fire Fighter:
Now, if I take this lid off too quick, what happens? You’re backup again.
Tanya Rivera:
If getting this close to the fire just scares you, Greensboro Fire has found a $50 fix, the StoveTop FireStop canister. A magnet holds it in place.
Fire Fighter:
Then the flame is going to hit this. It’s going to pop this can, and then you’re going to have a baking soda type material that’s been finely sifted that is gravity fed and it’s going to come down and extinguish that fire even without you in the room.
Tanya Rivera:
We’re not the only ones who wanted to see if it worked. Representatives from the Greensboro Housing Authority and a local apartment complex, watch it too.
Fire Fighter:
And it’ll burn it until it pops.
Tanya Rivera:
The fire starts to build and we start the clock. 30 seconds in, the flames reached the overhead, and 15 seconds later…
Tanya Rivera:
The fire is out, less than a minute from when it started.
Speaker 9:
And we watched it for another 10 minutes or so to see if the fire would reignite, and it didn’t. So the product does work.
Tanya Rivera:
And the product works a whole lot better than that cup of water on the grease fire. Wow. What a difference. And it could be the difference between life and death. The Greensboro Housing Authority is buying this StoveTop FireStop for every single one of its units. The hope is to protect the people inside those units and the $65 million in assets that your tax money pays for.
Julie Luck:
Well the StoveTop FireStop is about 50 bucks. You can find it at many Lowe’s Home Improvement stores and you can find a map featured in this web story where you can see the store nearest you. You can also get the FireStop online.
Frank Mickens:
Yeah, and if you’re thinking 50 bucks sounds like a lot of money for something like that, we’ve also posted a demo of what it looks like if you just stick with using regular baking soda. And the hint here is, it ain’t good. Check it out on wfmynews2.com.
Julie Luck:
That video. Wow.
Frank Mickens:
Told the story, didn’t it?
Frank Mickens:
Still five things you need to know before you go to bed tonight.
