Unattended Pan Of Oil Leads To Small Kitchen Fire

A Flower Lane resident began to heat a saucepan of oil in order to make French fries Thursday evening. Shortly after turning on the stove, he began to watch TV with his wife and forgot about the half-full pan of oil.
 
Moments later, the smoke detector sounded, alerting the couple to a small fire in their kitchen. They turned off the stovetop burner and tossed flour onto the fire hoping to extinguish it. When that didn’t work, they gathered the children, activated the building’s fire alarm system, and evacuated the building.
 
Other building occupants were evacuating when Ladder Company 2 arrived on scene. The occupant directed firefighters toward his apartment, where the crew found a fire still burning in the small saucepan. The flames were contained to the pan and were not impinging on any other items nearby.
 
Firefighters placed a cover on the pan, which quickly extinguished the fire. Medic 2 stayed on scene to help Ladder 2 ventilate the light haze of smoke from the structure.
 
Once the apartment was clear of smoke, all occupants were allowed to re-enter.