Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This footage shows bungling restaurant staff trying and failing to put out an increasingly large kitchen fire using a fire blanket and a pot filled with water.

The footage dated 22nd May was recorded at an unnamed hotel in China and has been shared by the Ministry of Public Security’s Fire Control bureau as a warning against improper firefighting techniques.

In the video, the contents of a large wok cooking on a gas stove suddenly catch fire and the bright flames are immediately spotted by staff members.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

A chef walks over and turns off the gas, then he calmly waits to see if the fire dies down before going to fetch a fire blanket.

He returns with the blanket and covers the wok, but he does so incorrectly by failing to fully cover the cooker, failing to starve the fire of oxygen and allowing the blaze to grow.

Staff members then bring over another two fire blankets, which are covered in a similar manner and have no effect.

A more junior chef then makes the mistake of dousing the grease fire with a pot of water, which only causes the flames to increase in size.

In the CCTV video, an employee eventually brings a fire extinguisher and begins using it on the fire, but this proves ineffective due to the thick layer of fire blankets.

As the video ends, the grease fire erupts and engulfs the entire kitchen, with staff members running to safety.

The incident is like something straight out of the Fawlty Towers episode ‘The Germans’ when poor Manuel is in the kitchen when it suddenly goes up in flames, leaving him shouting ‘Fuego!’ (‘Fire!’) as he desperately – and ineffectively – tries to stifle the flames with a tea towel.

It is unclear whether any hotel staff were seriously injured during the incident, with the blaze eventually being put out by firefighters, according to reports.