Restaurant Oil Build-up Causes Raging Blaze on Ground Floor

October 26, 2023

A build up of fats and oils in a restaurant’s kitchen caught alight causing a fire to spread throughout the ground and second floor.

A build-up of fats and oil in a restaurant’s kitchen caught alight causing a fire to spread throughout the ground and second floor.

Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters tackled the blaze at a restaurant on Upper Richmond Road in Putney, yesterday afternoon.

The extraction system and the ground to the second floor of the building was destroyed by fire.

An extraction system ventilates a kitchen by controlling airflow. The fire is believed to have been accidental and caused by a build-up of fats and oils in the extraction system catching fire.

Firefighters used one of the London Fire Brigades (LFB) 32-metre turntable ladders at the scene to get a better view of the scene. A LFB spokeswoman said:

“We’d like to remind restaurant and takeaway owners to ensure they don’t have dirty ducting. If you don’t clean the ducting in your extraction system regularly, you’re at a greater risk of ducting fires.”

Firefighters from Twickenham, Chelsea, Chiswick, Fulham, Wandsworth and Hammersmith fire stations attended the scene.

How can owner/operators minimize their fire risk between cleans?

This has been a long-term problem faced in commercial kitchens since day dot as metal kitchen grease filters only intercept between 20-40% of the grease from getting into the rest of the system. Since 2016, Shepherd Filters has been working with businesses large and small around the globe to:

Shepherd Filters work three times harder than conventional metal filters, to stop up to 98% or grease from contaminating your hood. This equates to a cleaner system all year round, reducing your filter and duct cleaning costs by over 80%!

Contact us to see if the Shepherd Filters solution is right for your business too!

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