Commercial kitchens are a high-risk area when it comes to fire. According to one NFPA study, in the USA every year an average of 7410 restaurant fires with a total damage of USD 165M are reported. Many restaurants do not reopen after a kitchen fire.
Commercial kitchens are typically equipped with a lot of appliances from stoves to deep fryers. Open flames are common in restaurant kitchens. Also, there is often there’s a lot of combustible material on site, such as cooking oils, paper and cardboard, cloths etc.
How does one to prevent and fight kitchen fires?
Good housekeeping. Keep the kitchen clean and tidy. Failure to clean was a factor in 22% of restaurant fires in the NFPA study. Special attention should be given to cleaning grease from kitchen hoods and ducts.
Automatic fire suppression systems are an effective way to combat kitchen fires. We recommend Kidde’s WHDR Wet Chemical System as an economical and easy to maintain protection for all types of cooking facilities and design layouts.
Smaller commercial kitchens may benefit from wet chemical portable fire extinguishers. Wet chemical extinguishers, also called purple K extinguishers are specifically designed with kitchen fires in mind. In addition, fire blankets offer an effective way to extinguish fires in cooking pans.
And remember, never put water on a cooking oil or electric fire!
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