This is not a photo of my air fryer burning. It is an image generated by Gemini AI. There wasn’t a shelf on fire, the steak is too low, in fact it’s something of an AI fail, with Gemini ignoring specific instructions such as that there should not be a shelf on fire, only flames licking the ceiling inside. But anyway, it shows a fire inside an air fryer. Which brings me to another point: if your air fryer catches fire, don’t grab your phone or camera to photograph it — put the blimmin’ fire out. Then write a long caption explaining why there isn’t a photo of it. (Image: Gemini AI) 
Everyone’s read the horror stories – Air fryer catches fire, killing all in sight! Air fryer catches fire, burning down house! Cat saved from inferno as air fryer blaze destroys neighbourhood!
None of which is true. But the fears are there, as is the fear mongering. And there’s a lot of air fryer/air fire clickbait out there.
While the above alarm bells are sourced from my imagination, the following ones come from actual stories published online:
Millions of air fryers recalled for burn and fire hazards!
Your air fryer can catch fire and burn your kitchen down!!
Your air fryer can catch fire and EXPLODE!!!
Man found strangled and bludgeoned by his air fryer in a ditch in downtown Detroit!!!!
Yes, you know by now that I made the last one up if you’ve read this piece that I wrote almost three years ago, in February 2023, when I first started writing these weekly Air Friday pieces.
As I wrote in 2023: “Browsing the internet is not entirely helpful. There are all sorts of horror stories. It’s like a B-grade movie from the 1950s about an alien invasion. Some of the scaremongering stories you read online about air fryer disasters were surely written by former Hollywood schlock-horror screenwriters down on their luck.”
I added: “In the United States, the kind of lawyers that prey on the uninformed and gullible are touting for business by spreading shock-horror stories about air fryer calamities.
“Hundreds of air fryers recalled! Millions of air fryers recalled! Some of this is verified (Insignia air fryer ovens were recalled in the US in April 2022). But some of the shock-horror stories scoop up air fryers along with crock pots and pressure cookers, and multi-cookers have been mentioned in the same breath – on the websites of American personal liability lawyers.”
Then, last Friday – yes, it happened on AirFryday – my nose twitched. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flicker.
Coming from the air fryer.
The cause of the #inferno? Fatty steaks. Rump steaks with a lovely cap of fat on them, the kind of fat cap that makes a cattle farmer smile and pat his belly.
My air fryer oven has three levels at which you can place the rack, and by rack I mean exactly the kind of shelf you have in your big old oven, but on a smaller scale. Because this machine really is just a miniature version of one of those, that goes on a countertop.
But because it is a lot smaller, the risk of fire is concomitantly greater. The equation is something like this:
- The smaller your machine, and the less space there is inside it, the stronger the likelihood that the element could catch fire. It’s as simple as that.
So I had been stupid, and let’s not put too fine a point on that. It was my stupidity that caused this fire. And when I say “fire” I mean that there were visible flames inside the machine, at the top of the interior, licking the “ceiling” as it were of the machine. (The AI image above does not represent this very well.)
To be entirely accurate, I’m being slightly disingenuous when I say my air fryer itself caught fire. The fat that hit the upper element caught alight, and flames were visible through the oven door window. The interior light was on, but obviously I would have seen the flames even if it had not been.
The machine itself did not burn, and the next day (once it had cooled down) I wiped the machine’s ceiling and upper element with a soapy, damp cloth.
I spotted it instantly, I believe, and here is exactly what I did, in order:
- First I pulled out the plug at the wall.
- I opened the oven door wide, while standing back.
- I blew at the flames quickly – puff, puff puff – and they went out.
Subsequently, I’ve thought about what else was in play, or might have been:
- There was nothing potentially flammable near the machine or above it – so check that your machine is in just such a situation, for safety.
- I need to have a fire extinguisher nearby.
- Do not ever put something fatty high up in an air fryer oven, as the fat will splatter onto the element above and catch fire. As you now know, this actually happened to me, so this is irrefutable.
- But this does bring me to my next point: also ensure that no fat drips down onto the element below, if like me your machine has elements at the top and bottom. Most air fryers have only one, at the top, but the kind of air fryer oven I am talking about here has both.
- Invest in a small fire extinguisher, and make sure it is serviced annually. Also ensure you know how to use it, and keep it in a visible spot near your air fryer.
And finally…
- Don’t throw your beer into the air fryer, okes. You know what I’m talking about. It’s not an indoor braai. DM
#There was no inferno. But there could have been. So be sure you have safety measures in place in your kitchen.