Belmont Fire Log: What's Cookin' in the Kitchen? Three Incidents Involving Food Prep

Sept. 16 – Just before 8 p.m., Engines 1 and 2, the Ladder truck and the Rescue unit were sent to Loring Street for a fire in a rubbish bin. Here's the story: The homeowner was making dinner on the stove top when a plastic cutting board, which was located a bit too close to the burner, caught fire and started melting. The homeowner thought he had extinguished the burning board and through it out in the trash. The optimal word in the previous sentence was "thought" as the homeowner soon discovered when he saw his barrel on fire after the board was actually smoldering when it was placed the trash. Fire fighters finished the job started a few hours before.

A bit well done

Sept. 18 – Nine past 9 a.m., Engine 1 and 2, the Ladder truck and an engine from the Arlington Fire Department Engine took off to Hill Road to investigate a call about smoke in an apartment building. The crew from the Ladder truck reported that it appeared that the smoke came from some well-done food left cooking in the stove well past the recipe's recommended time. The crew ventilated the apartment. They also found the battery-operated smoke detector inside of the apartment not functioning. They got some batteries to get it back in operation. 

Now on the menu: metal 

Sept. 18 – Just a minute and a half til' 2 p.m., Engine 1 and the Ladder truck were dispatched to Trapelo Road to investigate a fire alarm going off in a restaurant. The restaurant owner said that some metal was placed by accident in a microwave oven – not advised to do by the manufacturer – and the resulting chemical reaction caused the detector to go off. The interior and exterior of the microwave did not appear to be damaged; there were no scorch marks and it operated without incident while firefighters were on scene.