Fire in the fish room

摘要

To comply with local quarantine regulations, a substantial quantity of frozen provisions had to be transferred between two refrigerated chambers, so that one of them could be sealed by the authorities. As a result, one of the chambers became overcrowded, and some cardboard packages were pressed tight against the electrical defrosting heating elements. During the automatic defrost cycle, the temperature of the exposed section of the heaters was sufficient to cause smouldering and ignition of the cardboard packaging that was in physical contact. Fortunately, the alert cook detected the fire and it was quickly extinguished.