Buns of Fire

A funny Thanksgiving story... We took rolls and buns for Thanksgiving dinner at my uncle and aunt's house. I usually put the rolls in a paper grocery bag, sprinkle it with water, roll down the top of the bag, and stick it in the oven.

There were two casseroles in the oven already heating up. I put the bag on the top shelf and it just fit. After a few minutes I thought I smelled something so I opened up the oven. Everything looked fine. This happened a couple more times. The next time I checked on it, I opened the doors (the oven's in the wall and has two side-by-side doors), and saw the corner of the bag in embers and smoking. I pulled out the rack, and, poof, it burst into six to eight inches of flame. I yelled "help, help, help!", each time a little louder, and the kitchen got very quiet as everyone noticed the fire. My uncle stepped in and put a kitchen towel over the bag. He waited a few seconds and lifted the towel to see the situation, and the bag started more flames. So he stuck it in the sink to soak it with water. My dad got a good picture of the bag on fire.



Because the bag was rolled down and the fire was in the middle of the rolled down part, every time my uncle thought it was out and unrolled the bag, it would start again. He finally soaked the whole bag. Then we took it outside because it was making a lot of smoke and their kitchen doesn't have a fan. The fire was out, and my husband and I were able to rescue most of the rolls from the bag. We put the burnt bag in a small metal BBQ with a lid they have for such situations.

I learned a couple of things from the ordeal. One, soak the outside of the paper bag, then put the rolls inside. This worked great for the second bag of rolls we had - no smoke or fire for that bag. Two, stay calm during a fire and use lots of water. It was my first kitchen fire and a good learning experience.