A pot of oil on a stove started a fire that destroyed a mobile home in High Ridge on Monday (Jan. 19).
A woman was cooking in her home on Ivy Gate Drive in the Twin Lake mobile home community when the pot of oil on her stove caught fire. She then grabbed the burning pot to take it outside and dropped it on the deck. The deck caught fire and then spread to the mobile home, said Chief Mike Arnhart of the High Ridge Fire Protection District.
Firefighters received a call at 2:15 p.m. about the fire. They could see the smoke from the fire when they got to the intersection of Hwy. PP and Paula Lane, about 2 miles from the home, Arnhart said.
“Once oil catches fire it burns at a high temperature,” he said. “The wooden deck caught fire and then the door to the mobile home was open which did not help. The fire traveled to the center of the mobile home and then throughout.”
“The fire burned so hot that it melted the siding on a trailer next to it,” he said.
The home was completely destroyed, he said.
The woman was not injured and no one else was hurt in the fire, Arnhart said.
The woman lived in the home with her three children. The Red Cross was called to provide temporary shelter for the family.
The Fenton Fire Protection District assisted with the call.
This was the second grease fire in a week that the High Ridge Fire Protection District handled.
Arnhart said preparing for the possibility of a grease fire in the kitchen goes a long way towards minimizing the danger.
“It’s about preplanning. A lot of these fires start small,” he said.
Arnhart said people should keep a fire extinguisher in their kitchen and should know where it is and how to use it.
“Don’t compromise your safety, though,” he said. “Call 911 and get the fire department en route.”
Another way to address a small grease fire is to turn off the stove and cover the pan with a lid, he said.
The High Ridge Fire Protection District offers classes on using fire extinguishers. For more information, call 636-677-3371.