RE: Bacon Grease Accident

GeneF · Sep 28, 2003, 07:05 PM

Okay, in all my years of camping I have never had a problem with the traditional bacon and egg breakfast but this year was different.

When I set the camper up, I had to set it up a little higher than usual because the ground was not level.

In the morning, I was cooking bacon and I had just finished turning the bacon. As I brought my hand down, it hit the end of the handle on the frying pan. This caused the frying pan to flip up into the air.

When I saw that, I ducked to avoid it but the frying pan came down directly on my head with the hot grease covering a good portion of my hair.

A lot of my scalp turned red and fortunately I only ended up with a couple of blisters on my forehead. I also had a red streak from the top of my scalp down to my eyebrow and I think wearing glasses is what saved my eyes. I also ended up with some minor burns on my wrist.

I was surprised that it was not as painful as I expected but it did have a burning feeling. Fishing buddy went into town to get some stuff to put on it.

I did ask 3 rangers for some help but they had no idea about first aid which completely surprised me. I would have assumed that they would have had some training in first aid. They finally found some ointment that they thought might help but after reading the directions, it was not what I wanted to put on.

Anyway, next time I will definetely keep the handle to the side instead of sticking out front.

Hopefully this post will serve as a warning that cooking bacon can have nasty results and others will be more careful than I was.

On the bright side, the bass fishing was great with my biggest one being a 19 inch smallmouth.

ForestCreature · Jun 24, 2003, 10:08 AM

GeneFOUCH Gene!

Glad you weren t burned seriously.

I am forever preaching at home and around camp pan handles off to the side.

Now, onto another important matter. Where was your first aid kit?
This is a perfect reminder to everyone to have their kits stocked for the many different types of accidents that can happen.

Trlrboy · Jun 24, 2003, 10:22 AM

GeneFEither your camper must have been realllllly high or you are realllllly short. Glad you didn t have more damage.

whitestar505 · Jun 24, 2003, 10:32 AM

GeneFGeneF,

Wow! you are lucky. Count your blessings. I believe that is why Coleman sell s it s cookware with an re-moveable handle to the pans. You never know what is going to happen next.

GeneF · Jun 24, 2003, 10:45 AM

GeneFMarcy

Believe it or not, I actually had 2 first aid kits in the Sienna.

One we made up ourselves but neglected to put anything in for burns and the other one we had purchased through our MC. It had nothing more than a few cleaning gauzes and some band aids in it.

We now have burn ointment in our regular first aid kit.

Jeffrey · Jun 24, 2003, 11:06 AM

GeneFGlad your alright Gene.

They always say bacon isn t good for us anyway.
I just never knew how bad it was.

From now on, wear your Tilley when you cook.

CampNfan · Jun 24, 2003, 11:35 AM

GeneFGene, Jeffrey is right! What are you doing eating bacon anyway? Retirement won t last that long eating like that! Sorry to hear about your accedent, but glad to hear it was not all that bad. Your PUT hat should have been on too. Next time.....A bowl of " Total" should do just fine! [

]

angelsmom10 · Jun 24, 2003, 11:58 AM

GeneFGlad to hear you got away with as little damage as you did.

Just as a word of warning -- do not put anything that has an oily consistancy on any burn. When ointment was mentioned, I immediately thought of a greasy oitment and that will allow a burn to continue to burn. Cold water and if you have a " cream" in an emergency situation.

Sounds like a good time to enroll for a basic first aid course -- most time you can get one at your local Red Cross.

If all else, there are cards available for basic first aid to keep in camper.

But as I said early -- Glad you are Ok!!

Camping Coxes · Jun 24, 2003, 06:27 PM

GeneFGene --

Glad you weren t more seriously hurt. That could have been disasterous. I ll have to check our first aid kit for burn cream. We made our own kit with a sterilite box and use it for sports, as well. People laugh at us for bringing it to all my daughter s soccer and softball games, but I can t tell you how many times I ve had to replenish the three instant ice packs in it and how many band-aids and aspirin I ve had to get for people. Obviously it s come in handy if they re using up my ice packs!

Not to hijack your thread, but I pulled a bone-head move this last camping trip involving bacon, too, so I ll own up to it and hopefully help someone else from getting in trouble with bacon!

We were as close to level as we could get the PU, and I noticed we sloped to the side where the sink was. While cooking bacon on my griddle, the grease kept pooling to the back of the pan, being that it was slightly lower than the front. After a bit of cooking, I noticed a river of hot bacon grease running out the corner of the pan and onto the platform that holds the outside stove. Not wanting it to (A) catch fire with the flame being so close, or (B) keep going and land on my new camping mat and melting it, I ran in and grabbed some paper towels to sop it up with.

A word to the wise: When sopping up bacon grease, watch where the paper towel goes. I now had a flaming paper towel in close proximity to my tent canvas, no amount of blowing was making it go out, and the flame was getting dangerously close to my hand. Fortunately, our ice chest was direclty under the stove and I knew most of the ice was ice water, so I plunged it into the water.

In the future I will use a regular pan that has high sides to cook bacon to help contain the grease, and I will also empty the grease between batches so as to keep the grease build-up down.

jpreiser · Jun 24, 2003, 07:06 PM

GeneFyipes, glad you are ok, I always pre cook my bacon at home before camping. that way i still have thay yummy smell when reheating it on the stove but dont have all that grease to deal with. having to dump it , etc....

cyclone · Jun 24, 2003, 07:24 PM

GeneFGene...glad to hear you are, for the most part, ok! I m so glad it wasn t more serious! Thanks for the reminder that safety should always be a first priority. Now, enjoy retirement....

Jeffrey · Jun 24, 2003, 08:08 PM

GeneFTwo bacon accidents on the same weekend.

For safety reasons, I think everyone should switch to SPAM.
And we will all be much safer.

Glad everyone is OK.

luvourjayco · Jun 24, 2003, 08:45 PM

GeneFI m going to get on my medical soap box I promise I won t stand up here too long.

In one word NEVER put anything but cool water on a burn. Do not cover unless there is danger of debris falling into the area. The air will help to cool the burn and prevent it from going deeper. Do not attempt to remove clothing that may be adhered to the area unless it is on fire literally. Let the experts do it. You can purchase burn packs to add to your first aid kit, these are sterile and will sooth the burn without causing further damage. They tend to be pricey for the good ones but well worth the cost even if they have to be replaced yearly.
Please everyone stay safe no one wants their friends to be hurt or scarred needlessly.

Ok I ll climb down now.

PS hope all burns are healing well.

Giffster · Jun 24, 2003, 08:57 PM

GeneFI guess I ll be buying " pre-cooked" bacon or spam for my trip now. Thanks for the warning Mr. Gene.

Cheers

GeneF · Jun 24, 2003, 09:22 PM

GeneF

QuoteNot to hijack your thread, but I pulled a bone-head move this last camping trip involving bacon, too, so I ll own up to it and hopefully help someone else from getting in trouble with bacon

Trina

You are not hijacking my thread at all. Glad that you were willing to share your experience with us. Just helps to make us all a little more cautious.

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