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