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I heard of someone who supposedly had a fire while cooking on an enameled cast iron grill pan. I am not sure if this was due to negligence on the part of the chef or if there was something in the grill pan that could have caused this. What do you think?
Could some materials like the enamel coating have reacted to certain foods?
Metal (cast iron) would have to melt before it would burn, and it takes a lot of firepower to melt metal-- that's why we cook in it. Enamel likewise isn't going to burst into flame at temperatures generated on the average stove or grill. Something smeared or coating it might, though.
Like grease. On a grill pan, what you describe sounds like a grease fire. Possibly (but not necessarily, could have just been clumsiness or an accident) caused by negligence of the chef, the drippings from whatever was being cooked in the pan caught fire. If you leave grease/oil in a hot enough pan long enough, its certainly possible for it to catch flame, especially if there's something with a lower smoke point floating in it.
That said, plain cast iron does react with acidic foods, but in a way that makes your food taste off, not burst into flames.
Enamel is basically glass. You can't do anything to it on a stove top. It can break, but it can't burn.
As @senschen said, there are plenty of things on the stove that can burn, like grease and alcohol. A grill pan will accumulate grease, and there are ways for it to catch on fire. That has a little to do with the shape of the pan, and nothing to do with the enameled surface.
I have the same thing happened to me this morning the outside enamel (red) heated up to a height heat on a electric stove it start to melted and a fire start underneath it luckily I could stop the fire. Throw the pan away
