Before

After

Kitchen Fire

This fire in the kitchen area of a Fire House (the irony, right?!) started in the microwave. Food or materials placed inside a microwave can sometimes heat up to the point where they burn and even catch fire. It's important to never leave a running microwave unintended and to only use the microwave for food and products for which it is intended.  Following is a very broad guideline of things to avoid in the microwave:

* Paper products like paper lunch bags or Chinese carry out containers 

* Metal items like aluminum foil or even metal lined dishes

* Plastic or Styrofoam items like left over containers from restaurants or even reusable plastic containers in your pantry

* Even some foods should be avoided...generally speaking foods that can explode if overcooked can be a problem like eggs and even some fruits like grapes and raisins 

Lastly, running a microwave without anything in it can also present a problem.  A microwave needs something to absorb the energy it produces.  If there is nothing to absorb the energy, it will absorb it's own energy.  According to wikihow, "this causes the microwave to self destruct, blowing up and turning into a pile of flames."