Related restaurant: The related dishes have been taken down, and the video blogger was invited to visit the restaurant and suffered extensive burns
On September 15th, short video blogger @ Arseno posted a video on short video social media, stating that on August 13th of this year, while dining at a restaurant named "Yu Huan Ling Fresh Hot Pot" in the east scenic area of Laomen, Nanjing, he suffered extensive burns on his face, neck, hands, hair, abdomen, and other areas due to improper cooking by the chef, causing 75% alcohol to ignite an open flame.
Mr. Zhang, the husband of the blogger involved, stated in an interview with Red Star News that the dishes that caused the fire were made similar to "iron plate grilling" cooking. During the operation, they would use open flames to grill fat beef cubes and show them to diners. During the process, the chef would spray alcohol at the source of the fire to ignite the flames. It was during the spraying of alcohol that the fire suddenly occurred.
▲ Short video screenshots posted by the parties involved, currently deleted
As for the specific cause of the fire, Mr. Zhang believes that it was caused by improper operation by the restaurant chef, while the staff of the involved store stated that it was due to the blogger's request to increase the alcohol content in order to achieve the desired shooting effect. After the incident, the restaurant has taken down dishes with fire hazards.
Video bloggers invited to explore stores
Chefs grill meat over open flames
Triggering a fire and causing second degree burns
Red Star News reporters saw in a video posted by @ Arsenor that it is suspected that the chef of the store sprayed bottled alcohol onto an open flame used for grilling meat while cooking, causing a fire. Through the video, flames can be seen immediately emerging from the scene. Afterwards, the video footage showed a scene of panic and occasional screams.
@Arseno stated in the short video caption that he had communicated and negotiated with relevant companies multiple times in the past month, but he believed that the company did not attach great importance to the accident. The blogger stated that after the fire broke out on the day of the incident, the shop involved did not have any fire protection measures or spraying actions, and hopes that relevant departments will strictly inspect the fire safety of this shop during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day.
After the video was released, a Red Star News reporter contacted Mr. Zhang, the husband of @ Arsenor. He told Red Star News that the hot pot restaurant in Nanjing is a high-end local restaurant, while his wife Ms. Jin is actually a store exploration blogger.
Red Star News reporter saw on the homepage of the involved shops that Yu Huanling Fresh Hot Pot has a total of 6 stores in Nanjing, among which Baijiahu 1912 store became a "Black Pearl" nominated restaurant in 2022. The old gate east store where the accident occurred is located in Santiaoying, Qinhuai District. The store opened in January last year, and the ordering platform shows that the average consumption per person in the store is 458 yuan.
"It was precisely because he was a video blogger who needed to shoot these dishes that we recorded the situation of the fire at that time." Mr. Zhang said that he was actually invited to dine at the aforementioned restaurant before August 13th, along with several other store exploration bloggers.
The Red Star News reporter contacted another on-site store exploration blogger who was traveling with Ms. Jin. She confirmed to the reporter that on the day of the incident, she and Ms. Jin were both invited to explore the store and needed to cooperate with the store to shoot and promote dishes: "The store is responsible for determining which dishes to shoot, not ordering them ourselves."
The person's hand was burned. Respondents provide pictures
The Red Star News reporter learned that the dish that sparked the fire on site was called "Flame Snowflake Fat Beef Granules". According to Changjiang Daily, the dish is a new dish launched by the restaurant, so bloggers are invited to visit and taste it. According to Mr. Zhang, at the time of the incident, as Ms. Jin happened to be sitting next to the dish, the fire quickly ignited Ms. Jin's clothes and caused multiple burns on her face, hands, and other areas.
According to the diagnosis provided by Mr. Zhang to the Red Star News reporter regarding Ms. Jin's medical treatment in the hospital, this accident resulted in multiple second degree burns caused by flames throughout her body. Mr. Zhang said, "So far, my wife has not recovered her health and will still need to go to the hospital for further consultation."
In response to the situation reported by Mr. Zhang, a staff member of the involved store responded to Red Star News, stating that the store did indeed have an accident. However, she responded that "the handling of the accident, compensation plans, and other related matters have been transferred to the head office, and the staff in the store are not aware of the situation." She also stated that there will be further contact between the head office staff and the reporter to provide detailed information. However, as of the time of publication, the reporter has not received a response phone call from the company's personnel in charge of accident handling.
Regarding the harm caused to Ms. Jin by the accident, Mr. Zhang stated that they had already requested compensation of approximately 600000 yuan from the restaurant involved after the incident. As of September 17th, the compensation plan is still being negotiated between the two parties.
Each person has their own opinion on the cause of the fire
The store claims that the blogger requested an increase in alcohol content
Blogger Husband: Chef's Improper Cooking Operations
Mr. Zhang told Red Star News that after the fire broke out, there was no alarm device in the restaurant to sound the fire alarm, and there was no water in the fire sprinkler to extinguish the fire. Therefore, Mr. Zhang questioned whether the fire-fighting facilities in the store had become decorations?
Regarding Mr. Zhang's doubts. The above store operator said, "The fire safety in the store is regularly inspected by relevant departments, and the fire equipment is also installed and has passed the inspection." As for why no fire alarm was triggered, another operator of the store explained that since the fire was not significant at the time, smoke alarms and sprinklers were not triggered to extinguish the fire. The operator said that after the incident, the staff in the store immediately helped the person involved to extinguish the fire, and at the same time, the staff in the store accompanied the person to the hospital for examination.
So, why did the "Flame Snowflake Fat Beef Granules" suddenly catch fire during the cooking process? Mr. Zhang explained to Red Star News that this dish is similar to making "iron plate barbecue". In order to achieve a visual effect for customers, they will use open flames to grill beef cubes during cooking. During the process, the chef will spray alcohol at the source of the fire to ignite the flames. It is precisely during the spraying of alcohol that the fire was ignited. Mr. Zhang stated in an interview that they believe the cause of the fire was improper cooking by the chef.
Why does spraying alcohol trigger a fire? The operator of the store responded, "Because they wanted to shoot videos with a beautiful effect, they communicated and requested an increase in alcohol content, which led to the accident." The operator said that during the communication, some employees of the store also raised safety concerns and advised them not to do so, but the blogger did not adopt it.
Mr. Zhang gave a negative answer to the merchant's statement. He told Red Star News, "My wife only filmed dishes and did not mention increasing alcohol content." Mr. Zhang clearly stated that the shop's statement was not true and reserved the right to pursue legal responsibility against the shop.
Another blogger who accompanied Ms. Jin mentioned above told Changjiang Daily that the store had taken down the dishes involved after the incident. But regarding the situation at the scene of the fire, store staff responded to media interviews saying that they also have no concrete evidence, and there were no cameras installed in the private room where the incident occurred.
Mr. Zhang revealed on September 18th that after negotiations between the family and the restaurant involved, a settlement has been reached. However, Mr. Zhang stated that it is inconvenient to disclose the details of the settlement. The reporter noticed that the blogger has already deleted the relevant video content.
Red Star News reporter Yang Yuqi
