Reading a recent post here and seeing an embarrassing photo posted by a member of a charred circle in his deck. Thanks to his post it should be reminding us that with any outdoor cookers safety should be number one.
I have read many close tragedies over the three years I have belonged to BBQ forums. One had cold smoked salmon for years in a homemade smoker made from wood, a smoke chamber made of an electric hot plate with wood chips in a pan on top and the smoke piped into another wood chamber. I remember seeing his set up and thinking it didn’t look that safe but he had used it for years. It wasn’t long when he posted about his fire; the fire also destroyed a nice work shed too.
I have read several fire related posts in here. The best and safest surface to cook on outdoors is cement or Mother Nature earth and open air above. Many use cookers on their wood decks or covered patios. My cook area is a covered wood deck built against my house; very convenient but not the safest.
First thing you should have is a fire extinguisher. For a pellet smoker you need one rated “A, B, C”. I bought one at Walmart for $22, rated A, B, C, good for 10 years and refillable. I was able to locate it where it is handy for my smoke area and my kitchen.
Next is if you have your cooker on a wood deck get a good mat for under it. I only found one that was fire resistant and comes in a rectangle or circle. It is made from cement product and I got mine at Lowes, a rectangle about 3X4 feet. I think it was $37.
In reality all cooking devices should be closely monitored when in use. With long and overnight cooks not uncommon with pellet smokers one tends to go back to bed or do other things while they’re cooking. If you do this at least get a good remote monitoring system where you can monitor pit temps. along with meat temps and it should have high and low pit temp warnings. My Maverick ET 732 has a low temp. warning but I have to visually monitor for high pit temps.
Another good tip for controlling grease fires is to keep a box of baking soda on hand. It may save you a larger fire and you may be able to save whatever you are cooking. It will just have a built in antacid!
Smokin Don
