Effects of sleeping in an apartment after a cooking mishap with the stove?
Asked by
AshlynM (
10684
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February 8th, 2021
Nothing caught fire, thank goodness. But I forgot about some rice and the pot started smoking horribly, probably because I had the lid on on high heat so it would boil faster.
The smoke detector went off but after fanning it with a towel, it shut up.
A thin wall of smoke drifted through the living room and kitchen, but I was able to get rid of it after swiping it with a towel.
I opened the door and the living room window and ran all fans. The smell isn’t as bad right now, but it’s still there.
Is it safe to sleep in a place after something like this?
There was no fire, just a light smoke and a terrible smell.
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6 Answers
Does the smell of smoke make you want to cough? Does it make your eyes water? Your body will probably tell you if it’s unsafe.
I was once advised to sleep elsewhere (by firemen) after there was a bad fire in the apartment next to mine. Smoke in that case only traveled through the wall, and it was still pretty bad. Then again, with Covid, sleeping elsewhere comes with other risks.
One thing to remember is that humans are very sensitive to the smell of smoke. If it’s only the smell, no other sensations, I personally would probably feel safe. Can you crack a window? Or set an alarm to air out the room after a few hours?
It is safe.
You should take a wet rad and wipe the walls and the ceiling to remove any particulate matter that might have been in the smoke. No hurry, the weekend is OK.
Otherwise, you’re fine.
(look at this as a learning experience. And now you know that your smoke detector works. That is a good thing.)
I’ve done that a few times and I slept at home. It never occurred to me to sleep elsewhere. I burned rice in a pot twice.
After the second time, I’m paranoid now when I cook rice. I now set the phone timer for ten minutes, and after ten minutes, I check it and will stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on the pot. It was really scary, both times, when the pot was smoking and the alarm was going off.
Unless you’re cooking with TEFLON or its cousins, a cooking fire is unlikely to make anything toxic. An apartment fire that involves any furniture or cleaners, or if it got bad enough to burn any plastics, probably produced some harmful chemicals.
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