A restaurant manager has been praised for stopping a deep fat fryer blaze getting out of hand.
Emergency services received reports of an incident at Frankie and Benny’s at the Beach Boulevard, Aberdeen at around 8am yesterday morning as the American style diner prepared to open for breakfast orders.
But on the arrival of fire crews, manager Liam McDermott had already put out the blaze – using his own fire safety training and a chemical extinguisher to deal with the oil fire.
Mr McDermott, 24, who had never been faced with a fire before, said: “From the word go I was worried the fire was going to get completely out of control – you get the training but when it happens, the first thing you think is, what do I do?
“I just put a fire blanket over the top of it but it disintegrated because it was so hot.
“The fire was spreading so I got the wet chemical extinguisher and soaked it.
“There wasn’t too much damage – though the fryer is broken.”
Mr McDermott had been given hands-on fire training through Frankie and Benny’s parent company TRG.
Fire engines from Central Station and North Anderson Drive arrived shortly after the call and made sure the fryer was covered to prevent re-ignition as well as clearing smoke from the restaurant.
Station manager Mike Cordiner said: “Dealing with an oil fire of this nature can be extremely dangerous, but thankfully the manager had received training and knew how to deal with such a situation.”
In the UK, nearly 20 people are killed or injured every day in accidental fires that start in their kitchen, the most common of these caused by deep fat frying.
Mr Cordiner added: “This fire occurred in an area where the smoke was able to disperse and it was tackled reasonably safely.
“I would, however, like to remind members of the public that a similar fire occurring in a house would be a totally different proposition, where smoke can quickly fill the room.
“In a domestic situation our message is not to tackle the fire, close the door, get everyone outside and then alert the fire service.”