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Kitchen Oil Fires Have Pretty, Weird Solution: Flower Fire Exinguishers
Posted by Kit Eaton at 9:33 PM on August 21, 2008
Fire extinguishers are damn handy, but hard to get excited about—unless they're cool flying ones—but these flower extinguishers from Japan should be weird enough to pique your interest. They're magnetic, so you just whack them on a convenient surface, like the front of your fridge. And if you're unlucky enough to get an oil fire on your cooking range, then you simply grab the flowers and fling them into the fire. You're probably thinking "Fighting fire with flowers? WTF?" right now. The flowers work by melting to create a film over the surface of the burning oil, cutting off its air supply and extinguishing the fire. See the video of them in action if you don't believe it.
Neat hey? If not a little bizarre. They come in yellow or pink, disguised to look like silk flowers, last 2 years before you have to replace them (assuming you don't set fire to your kitchen in that interval) and are available for US$39 for two. [Kilian-Nakamura via Random Good Stuff]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
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siville
Posted 10:18 PM 21/8/08
MMmmmm... Tempura!
Get the Bulldog sauce out!
siville
strider_mt2k
Posted 10:08 PM 21/8/08
@emag: That IS confusing.
Here, have a mushroom.
strider_mt2k
emag
Posted 10:07 PM 21/8/08
Nintendo tells me that flowers start fires.
emag
Hectorvex
Posted 10:03 PM 21/8/08
That is awesome. True story: about 5 years ago, my wife burnt down my kitchen trying to cook egg rolls. We lived in an apartment complex. The wrong sprinkler heads went off (in the living room) and by the time she got the fire extinguisher out of the hall, the oil fire had consumed most of the kitchen cabinets and my cool retro toaster. This kind of fire fighting tool would have been pretty helpful to have around. It would have ruined the egg rolls, but my toaster would still be toasting.
Hectorvex
strider_mt2k
Posted 9:57 PM 21/8/08
Hey those flowers are pretty!
Pretty USEFUL!
-and if it can really turn a grease fire into some sort of delicious baked cinnamon treat that would be tops too!
strider_mt2k
Knirfie
Posted 9:57 PM 21/8/08
It's cheaper to just throw a bar of soap in the pan, same effect.
Knirfie
Knirfie
Posted 9:57 PM 21/8/08
Is that what they call a "film", looked like a very big pile of shit of some sort if you ask me :D
Knirfie
SgtToastie
Posted 9:55 PM 21/8/08
MMMmmm, looks delicious!
SgtToastie
strider_mt2k
Posted 10:54 PM 21/8/08
@Curves: HEEEEY
Those crappy magnets are from all the cool places we've been! :p
strider_mt2k
Curves
Posted 10:47 PM 21/8/08
@Knirfie: Does that really work? (Who says Giz isnt educational.)
As far as the product, its a little LARGE but less intrusive than a traditional extinguisher and since most refrigerators are covered with crappy magnets anyway, they may as well have some purpose.
Curves
nystreetfilms
Posted 10:41 PM 21/8/08
comes in two flavors!
Shrimp and now new Duck Fat Flavor!
Mmmmm.
Just put a lid on the pot...?
nystreetfilms
maven2k
Posted 11:51 PM 21/8/08
That video was wild! So, do you have to throw the pan away and get your stove top sandblasted after you use that thing? I have seen what a mess a regular fire extinguisher makes, though, so it's a toss up which one is messier.
maven2k
Nyle
Posted 11:43 PM 21/8/08
Is that easier to clean up afterwords than putting a lid over the pan?
Nyle
DisposableInterloper
Posted 11:34 PM 21/8/08
Now if these things could come in small bars that I could toss into the grease fire, or perhaps pellets with a long-armed dispenser, I'd be interested. I'd sooner die in a grease fire than have those crappy flower things stuck to my fridge.
Then again, I don't deep fry things.
DisposableInterloper
bobbaddeley
Posted 12:15 AM 22/8/08
No baking soda?
I've had grease fires in my kitchen (don't get absorbed in gizmodo while you're waiting for your oil to heat up), and it was just a matter of opening the cupboard, grabbing the baking soda, and pouring it over the fire. Works instantly, and there's no big bubbly mess to clean up. It smoked for a little bit, but the danger was gone in no time at all. These flowers seems pretty expensive compared to a few cents worth of baking soda.
bobbaddeley
zayden
Posted 12:14 AM 22/8/08
Ah those wacky, wacky asians.
zayden
Monty
Posted 12:08 AM 22/8/08
Two things I learned from that video:
1. Japanese kitchens suck - no wonder they eat everything raw.
2. Whatever that food was at the end of the video, I ain't eating it.
Monty
xcharliemx
Posted 12:42 AM 22/8/08
That must smell like ass.
xcharliemx
LA_Longhorn
Posted 12:27 AM 22/8/08
The main problem is that you have to be in the kitchen when the fire starts... I've used an automatic solution for years called the Stove Top Fire Stop; it sits in your range hood, and puts our grease fires automagically. It's saved our kitchen on more than one occasion.
LA_Longhorn
Toshie
Posted 1:01 AM 22/8/08
@LA_Longhorn: "It's saved our kitchen on more than one occasion."
What are you, a Flambé chef?
Toshie
dylanwho
Posted 12:57 AM 22/8/08
Whatever happened to covering it with a lid? Surely those are close at hand in a kitchen.
dylanwho
KristenBal
Posted 1:34 AM 22/8/08
To this to have appeared a couple of months ago, it would have saved me from repainting my kitchen. Mom let something on the fry and it set on fire. Man, the wall was pitch black when I got to set out the fire
KristenBal
blindaxs
Posted 1:30 AM 22/8/08
I pictured her beating the fire out with the flowers... Would have been more exciting rather than just neat.
blindaxs
Calaverius
Posted 1:15 AM 22/8/08
Did they steal the soundtrack from Starfox?
Calaverius
dcdttu
Posted 1:42 AM 22/8/08
PETA's flower subdivision is going to go ape-shit over this.
I don't care if they're silk, they look real and that's all that matters.
dcdttu
Mobius
Posted 1:38 AM 22/8/08
Strange. When I've gotten flowers in the past, it has allowed me to create fire. Please note that I live in Marioland.
Mobius