How To Prevent Grease Fires On Your Grill

The one weird trick for preventing a grease fire on your outdoor gas grill is simpler than you think. Yes, the proven way to stop a grease fire from happening is to simply clean your grill. It's common for grease and food drippings to collect under the cooking grates, around the burners, and drop into the firebox. When that buildup accumulates, it causes grease fires. Char-Broil specifically recommends regular cleaning of the cooking surface and inside of the grill as the best way to reduce the risk of a grease fire.

It may be tempting to just brush the grates and call it a day. Yet you really have to check the areas under the grates and clean them well. Grease often collects on the flame tamers, those metal pieces that sit above the burners. Heavy buildup on the tamers can cause uneven cooking, and it may even ignite. Char-Broil recommends cleaning these parts when buildup is manageable. When the parts are too heavily coated with grime, they'll need replacing.

Char-Broil also recommends paying attention to what you're grilling. Certain ingredients, like fatty cuts of meat, oily marinades, and excess sauce, can drip onto the hot surfaces below. Before you grill meat, prepare by trimming excess fat. That will reduce the fuel available for a grease fire. And if you're cooking something especially fatty, leave yourself enough room on the grill to move the food away from a sudden flame.

Don't panic if you see a tiny flame shooting up from beneath a burger. That's not a grease fire. That's more like a little flare-up. However, this gets more serious when there's a large amount of accumulated grease available to burn. That's why Char-Broil recommends keeping the grill clean. The brand also says if grease starts pooling while you're cooking, remove the food from that area of the grill. If your grill's manufacturer recommends it, then burn off the residue. If you have a Char-Broil grill, the company suggests turning the burners to high and keeping the lid open until the pooled grease burns away.

The one thing you should never do is use water to put out a grease fire. When water comes into contact with burning grease, the grease can splatter and explode. If there's a grease fire, follow Char-Broil's instructions: turn off the burners and the gas, and step away without using water. It's always essential to store a fire extinguisher nearby when you're grilling. Many people think the best thing to do is to put the lid down, but the lids are purposely ventilated for safety reasons, so that won't snuff out a fire. If the fire persists, call the fire department.