At approximately 6:20 p.m. on Tuesday evening the Department of
Public Safety and St. Louis Fire Department responded to a grease
fire in the Village Apartments Building B. According to the
residents of the quad apartment, a fire started when oil was left
on the stove but unattended.

The resident was heating up oil to make French fries. One of the
two residents that was in the apartment at the time noticed the
fire and called to their roommate who called DPS. The resident that
noticed the fire grabbed the fire extinguisher from the laundry
room and put out the fire before it could spread. At no point did
the smoke detector go off in the apartment.

The resident that put out the fire said she knew it was a grease
fire when she saw it and knew exactly what to do to put out the
fire.

The other student commented that everyone should learn how to
use a fire extinguisher because if the other roommate had not been,
there the fire could have been much worse.

By the time DPS and SLFD responded, the fire was already
extinguished. SLFD brought in a smoke ejector (a high pressure
exhaust fan) to clear the apartment of the smoke.

According to the firefighters that responded to the call, there
was a sufficient amount of clean-up to be done. While the apartment
kitchen contained some damage, no one was hurt in the incident. At
the time of press, Residence Life was unable to comment on the
incident and extent of damage sustained.

“Overall it wasn’t too bad–just a little grease fire on top of
the stove,” said Captain Crawford of SLFD.

“Safety is no accident when you are cooking,” Crawford
added.