Now that's a fire!!

I started a fire in my kitchen last night. (insert cooking jokes here)

I was going to make some Mongolian beef when the wife got home. Thank god she was already home and watching the kids when I started. I put a little oil in the wok, turned on the electric stove and started slicing the beef. With my back to the stove.

All of a sudden (there has to be an all of a sudden) she tells me the pan is on fire. Sure enough, flames had consumed the entire wok and a large area above it. Thinking quickly, I headed for the cabinet under the counter and grabbed the cover for the wok (thank you fire safety lessons) so I could smother the fire.

It went out quick enough, but there was a ton of smoke generated. So the kids went to our bedroom and I turned on all fans and opened all the windows.

We stayed in the bedroom with the kids while the smoke cleared. The house still smelled a little this morning.

The wok and lid still sit in the backyard. I suspect there was some sort of residue on it that ignited the raging inferno because I had only put a small amount of oil in the pan and it hadn't been on that long.

I'm brave enough that I'll try to do the Mongolian beef again tonight, but I'm smart enough that I'll use another pan.