Fire starts with cooking oil, ends with baking flour

A fire that started in a pan of hot oil in a West Outer Drive home Thursday and spread to an artificial plant on top of kitchen cabinets ended when a neighbor dumped baking flour on the plant, extinguishing the flames, a fire report said.

A West Outer Drive man told firefighters he had been heating oil to cook frozen chicken nuggets earlier in the day and left the oil unattended, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said. When the man returned to the stove, the oil was on fire.

The man picked up the pot and headed for the front door but decided the fire in the pan was too large, the report said. So, he placed the pan in the sink and turned on the water.

But this caused the oil in the pan to “flash,” and fire spread to cabinet surfaces and set a plant on top of the cabinets on fire, the report said. It also melted plastic items in the kitchen and curtains in the dining area.

The resident ran to a neighbor’s house, and the neighbor used the baking flour to extinguish the plant fire, the report said.

Firefighters were called at 3:44 p.m. Thursday after the owner of the West Outer Drive home returned, but the fire was completely out when they arrived, the report said.

The resident said he received some small burns on his right hand, but he refused treatment, the report said. Damage to the home was estimated at about $4,000.