The old fashioned style of deep fat chip pan is, thankfully, becoming a thing of the past. More people are either buying modern thermostatically controlled, sealed fryers, or they are changing to oven chips, which have improved a lot in recent years to become a great alternative to home produced chips.

However, they do still occur and have the potential to cause great devastation.

There are two main causes of chip pan fires:

• The oil or fat overheats and catches fire spontaneously.
• The oil or fat spills over onto the cooker because it has been filled too high, or because the chips have been put in wet causing the oil to bubble up and overflow.

• Never fill the pan more than a third full of oil/fat
• Test the temperature of the oil/fat by putting in a small piece of bread; if it crisps up quickly, the oil is ready.
• If the oil/fat is giving off smoke it is too hot. Turn it off and let it cool down before starting again.
• Dry the chips before putting them in the pan.
• Do not leave the pan unattended, unless you turn the heat off.