Ugh...

[popcornbird]

Ugh.......just need to vent about a little issue.

I just finished washing the dinner dishes and was wiping the counters and stove. There were two pans on the stove.....empty/washed ones.......just sitting there. Anyway, as I was wiping the stove, my hand touched one of the pans, and it was SO hot. At first I wondered why on earth the empty washed pan was hot. My mom never cooked anything in them. I touched it again quickly to see if it was REALLY hot, and sure enough, it was. It suddenly struck me that MAYBE the stove top was on beneath it. I picked the pan up, and sure enough, my mom had forgotten the flame on.

This is not the first time she has done that. I have found the flame on many times before while cleaning the kitchen, but this was the first time she forgot a pan on top of it too. I turned it off, ran upstairs, and told my mom what she did. She was like * Oops...* I must admit I was pretty angry about it this time. I told her SO many times to remember to turn off the stove. She DOES turn it off, but sometimes she accidently turns it the wrong way, and ends up putting it on *low* instead of *off*. It is such a dangerous thing to do. If my hand never touched the pan, I would never have known, and we would have gone out, and who knows what could have happened. This is why I'm SO paranoid about the stove and HAVE to check it to make sure its off, EVERY time we go out, and every night before going to bed, and every time my mom finishes cooking. She just turns it the wrong way too often and thinks she turned it off when apparently, she just turned the flame down.

Has anyone else ever done this? Now I'm even more paranoid. I think I will run down and check the stove every hour. It shouldn't be left on carelessly like that. I told my mom time after time, to MAKE SURE its off before leaving the kitchen. I really hope she remembers from now on.

[Karen]

Yikes! Good thing you checked! Seed treat for you! Ooops - you're a human popcornbird! Treat of your choice then.

[trayi52]

Poppy, I am the worst one in the world to leave the stove on. You would not believe what I done to out kitchen cabinets! Anyway, a pan had some oil in it, and well it caught on fire. My cabinets were blackened.

Its a good thing my husband goes behind me and checks everything. I am so forgetful, and I just can't help it!

Willie

[popcornbird]

Originally posted by Karen
Yikes! Good thing you checked! Seed treat for you! Ooops - you're a human popcornbird! Treat of your choice then.

LOL! How about some chocolate?

You do it too Trayi? My mom has done it so many times that my dad and I are now the family's official *stove patrols*. Its so dangerous, and we have pets in the house! Mom needs to be more careful.

[Tweety_Pie]

I DID THAT LAST WEEK!

I came home for lunch (from school) and I was makeing macaroni and when i was done i turned the dial thing *to what i thought was off*. I was rushing so i wasn't paying attention. And when I got home that afternoon I could smell something burning... and no one was home. I walked into the kitchen and to my suprise the stove was on and all the left over macaroni burned to the bottom of the pan

I was SOOO lucky nothing burned down!

[aly]

You should hang a sign up temporarily until she gets into the habit of double (or triple) checking to be sure its off!

[RobiLee]

I just left one of the burners on the other day. I couldn't believe I did that. I am also paranoid about the stove or oven being left on. Everytime we leave I have to check several times to make sure it is off. The worse is at night time. I check and recheck and then go to bed and think about it and have to get back up and check again. Same thing with the doors being locked. It drives me crazy!!!!!! Now when I leave the house I am not so concerned if the doors are locked or not. Isn't that weird? I just always have to make sure they are locked when I am in the house. I do not want any bad person coming in when I'm actually in the house and I don't want any one comeing in and scaring me. Which for some reason my husband and son always seem to like to scare me!!

Robin

[K9soul]

I don't know why, but this reminds me of a very near disaster when I was younger. I think the main reason I'm good about making sure about the burners being off is because of this.

I was a teenager and with my best friend in high school, we were planning a surprise type birthday party for another friend. I had baked a cake, and was going to make a special icing recipe to top it off with. Well, I turned on a burner (electric stove) to heat it up because I had to boil some ingredients for the icing. Then I got distracted putting some music on the stereo and talking to my friend. I looked up suddenly to see the cake, in a glass cake pan, which I had set on top of the stove, smoking like crazy. I had turned the wrong burner on, and the glass cake pan was sitting on the burner I had turned on.

I ran into the kitchen, but just before I got there, the glass cake pan (9x13) exploded into a million pieces, and a small fire on the stove top erupted. There was a pale of dish water nearby (we didn't have a dishwasher) and I ran across the shards of broken hot glass barefoot to throw it on the fire, cause I was horrified it would catch on the wood cabinets. That did get the fire out. Luckily I only sustained minor cuts on my feet, along with a healthy respect/fear of stove top burners.

To this day, I check them carefully, always making sure I have the right one turned on and turning it off as soon as I'm done with it. The oven is another matter however. I still occasionally forget to turn that off when I take something out. At least that is not quite so dangerous as the stove top.

[popcornbird]

Gosh Jessica! How scary!!!! I think I will put signs all over the kitchen, Aly. I told my mom I'm putting signs up for her and she started laughing.

Originally posted by K9soul
At least that is not quite so dangerous as the stove top.

Its not that dangerous if its left on empty, but if you accidently leave it on with an empty pan in it, or with a pan containing oil, it could be VERY dangerous. Several months ago, my friend was going to bake a cake and turned the oven on to preheat it without checking to see if anything was inside. When she came back to put the cake in, the inside of the oven was full of fire. She had a pan with oil in it, in the oven, and forgot to take it out. Thank God she caught it and put the fire out, but I do believe an oven can be just as dangerous. The kitchen is not a place to be *careless* in.

[catnapper]

Another forgetful person here! I am technically NOT ALLOWED to cook in my kitchen because I am a lousy cook, so when I do, its rare and I'm ususallly home alone. I'll start something, get sidetracked (by the phone, letting Nicki out, whatever) and walk away from the kitchen only to suddenly remember ten/twenty/thirty minutes later that something was cooking. Just the other day, I was making french fries (no oil so it wasnt bad) but I went running downstairs to completey black sticks!

[Rachel]

Popcornbird, you are right to be concerned. Everyone needs to be aware of how important this is, hopefully without becoming an obscessive compulsive. My husband has occasionally left the burner on and I discover it. I told him that I make it a routine to turn the burner off before serving anything out of a pan or removing the pan from the stove. Same goes with the oven. First turn it off, then take out the brownies! The idea of a sign is a good one too. As I get older, I have to force myself to focus on the task at hand. I tend to make mistakes like this (yes, I've done it too) when I'm thinking about something else while doing such chores. Multitasking was a breeze when I was younger, but as I age, I realize it can be distracting.

[ramanth]

The stove in my apartment is electric and has lights to indicated if a burner or oven is on. It's a nice feature so I can quickly glance to see if it's on or not.

I always check and doublecheck that it's off though, especially before bed or before I go somewhere.

[Logan]

I have done it before, too, but unfortunately the time I did it, most recently, the flame went out and the gas kept coming out! We had left the house and when we came back, the smell of natural gas about knocked us down! Scary thing was the Lilly and Murphy were inside in the kitchen while this happened and the windows were closed!!! We were able to air it out and everything was ok, but it sure scared me to death. I am much more careful now. I have never had a gas stove until we bought this house and you really do have to watch to make sure everything is turned off.

Glad no damage was done, Popcornbird. Hope you didn't get burned!!

[lbaker]

Do NOT throw water on a gas or oil fire!!! EVER. Smother. Ask Phred for more fire prevention hints folks... he's the expert here.

[Randi]

Ugh! I must admit that I have also left the stove with the gas burning - on low though, but still ..... Within the last few years, while sitting here at the computer, I've put rice on for dinner and been stupid enough to think I'd remember to turn it down in 5 min. but forgot. Well, at least as soon as the water had evaporated, I noticed.

I should know better though, as in my early twenties I really got burned and ended up in hospital for 5 weeks!! Had to have skin transplant on one arm. It happened because I was too close to the gasflame when I put the kettle on and my thin clothes caught fire. After that, I was not that afraid of fires, but of what clothes I was wearing!

Anyway, you can never never be too careful with fire!!