Grease Dumpsters- A New Dumpster Hazard?

[x635 4,066]

Recently, I've been seeing more and more used cooking oil and grease dumpsters appearing behind resturants. These dumpsters are meant specifically for the collection of the used product, and sometimes to fuel bio-diesel vehicles.

Now, I would think that a dumpster fire in one of these containers would burn differently then a regular dumpster fire. My question is, has anyone encountered one of these on fire, or does anybody attack these fires differently?

[Jybehofd 85]

I haven't encountered a fire with one of these but the restuarants have to pay a pretty penny to have one. They have to pay for the disposal of the used oil. I have seem them before and seem pretty safe with weighted steel lids. I think it would be hard to have a fire in one unless someone set it because the fire point is a high temp.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

So for something like that, you would need a Class K extinguisher/extinguishing agent, would you not? The possibility for deep seated fire could exist, or is that not the case. If so, would a standard ABC, foam, or other Class B extinguishing agent be appropriate?

[firemoose827 324]

I used to work with restaurant fire suppression systems and extinguishers. A class "K" would be the best due to the chemical called "Karbaloy". This chemical causes a reaction in the grease and turns it to fire resistive soap. This would put a layer of this soap in the dumpster there-by smothering the fire as if you used foam. Foam and CO2 would also work but it would take more time and chemical to extinguish.

Ive seen video and live demos where a 5'x5'x3'deep grease fire was extinguished with one class "K" in less than one minute. You are instructed to use the entire extinguisher to create that layer of fire resistive soap to smother it. The fire systems in kitchen hood assemblies use the same types of chemical, just different names, and use different types of nozzles for each appliance.

I'm sorry, I trailed off there. Yes; A class "K" unit would be the best for those types of dumpsters.

Jonesy