If you allow your teenaged child to fry food on the stove unsupervised by a responsible adult, you have a fire waiting to happen.  I’m not joking.  You know their attention span; it’s about a nanosecond, right?  So what happens when their “bud” sends a text message about…whatever?  Next thing you know they’re “all thumbs”, off into a cyber-conversation.  Or they call their girl/boy friend and start a marathon phone conversation.  How long do you think it takes before the oil or grease in that skillet or deep-fat fryer reaches its ignition temperature and ignites into flames?

I’ll tell you what happens next…and none of these scenarios are pretty.

Scenario #1-Teen panics and throws water on the fire; this splatters the flaming oil or grease across the stovetop and quickly spreads the fire to the adjacent wood cabinets and countertops and anything combustible that’s close by, e.g., dish towels, paper towel rack, etc.

Scenario #2-Teen grabs the flaming skillet from the stove and throws it into the kitchen sink in an attempt to extinguish the fire.  Dumping the pan exposes the already hot oil—that may not have ignited already—to enough oxygen so that now all the oil or grease is ignited: the fire just got bigger!  What’s above most kitchen sinks in America?  You guessed it: those cute window treatments and more wooden cabinets that will quickly become involved in fire.

Scenario #3- Teen grabs the flaming skillet from the stove and attempts to take flaming pan out a kitchen door to get the pan outside of the house.  After about two steps the burning liquid sloshes enough so that some of the flaming oil or grease falls to the floor where it ignites the kitchen flooring material.  Or the flaming liquid comes back on the teen carrying the pan and burns them, causing them to drop the pan spilling all the burning liquid on the kitchen floor.

Scenario #4-Teen panics and runs out of the house to find you—you’re next door having a conversation with your neighbor about the yard sale next week or the proposed leash law ordinance—giving the fire several minutes to completely engulf the entire kitchen before anyone places the first call to 911 to get the fire department on the way.

I’ve seen all of these unfortunate scenarios—and many additional variations—play out numerous times in my career; ask any veteran firefighter and they’ll likely tell you the same.

I know I’m picking on teenagers in this blog, but I’ve also seen many adults as actors in all the above scenarios.   Keep this in mind when you cook with vegetable oil, animal fat or grease: the key words are oil, fat, and grease.  You’re heating those combustible substances up to the point that they cook your food; it only takes another few degrees for those substances to reach their ignition temperature and ignite into flames.  You’ve got to keep a close eye on the pan; if the oil, grease or fat starts smoking at all it’s getting ready to ignite.

My message to you is that cooking with oil or grease is an extremely hazardous activity that requires the cook’s full and undivided attention regardless of their age.  I’ll go even further with my advice regarding teenage cooks: no cooking with open flames or fat or grease, period.  Teach your children not only how to cook, but how to cook safely.