Wow, that's scary. Doesn't mention in the news article, was it a hottop?

I will get a spray bottle now for my behmor.

I would add this to your list. Long ago, Jay Endres off CoffeeTec said let the fire burn itself out inside the roaster, which is built to contain that level of heat. Do you agree?

Added 12/23: Jay was visiting to look at my specific roaster when he said this. It's a North TJ-067 1 Kg propane drum roaster. It's heavily insulated. The electronics are underneath below thick plate steel. It uses a cyclone fan for air circulation. I would turn the burner and power off and shut off propane at the valve on the roaster and the valve at the propane tank.

In a commercial environment with concrete floors and walls, and a properly inspected work area, sure. But the fires usually start elsewhere, the exhaust pipes get coated with too much chaff and residue built up and the chaff ignites first and is sucked right out of the drum.

I think I get what Jay was implying. Opening the door and dumping flaming hot beans out doesn't accomplish much except provide them with a burst of higher concentrations of oxygen which will no doubt make the problem bigger and more spread out.

In terms of leaving the beans in the roaster, I agree that it depends on the roaster. The Hottop has a lot of plastic externally, so if some water can be introduced into the roast chamber before the eject dump, then that is best. Additionally, the roaster should be unplugged immediately to stop the main fan from pulling the fire into the rear compartment which houses all the electronics.

Agreed. It definitely depends on the roaster.

And from my experience, most roaster manufacturers who had some kind of fire safety procedure designed would probably recommend cutting the heat immediately, turning off the exhaust fan, and leaving the beans inside the drum to smother the flames. Dropping the beans immediately might result in a flash of flames (backdraft) as said in previous replies.

Using water is also a good idea, but I might want to cut off the roaster's power first to prevent the possibility of electric shocks.

Randy G. wrote: - Never leave a roaster unattended while it is in operation

That last one does NOT mean just being near the roaster nor sitting near it in the same room. It means watching the entire time, staring at the beans ,

Most home roasters would probably quit this hobby if staring at the beans throughout the entire roast was needed. I know I would.

I'll take my chances with what I'm doing for the last 13 years - I set up a timer to 3 minutes before first crack (around 9 minutes into the roast in most cases) and I attend the roast from that point. Works well, and doesn't feel like watching paint dry.

^^^^I'll bet your beans taste funny just kidding.

I love watching beans roast. I suppose there's some that should not be driving a car either.

For drum roaster fire, you don't want it to stop spinning when it's still hot. Water spray bottle seems to be the standard practice.
@ 4:02

There's a fire extinguisher in our vicinity.

That's interesting. She is using an updated version of my roaster. I had also thought of spraying or pouring water down the charging chute if there were a fire. But, I have not had a fire in the drum. On my roaster, like hers, chaff can collect underneath the drum. I have seen some charred chaff as if it was burning but again, it is completely contained down there, and I don't let a lot of chaff accumulate and vacuum the roaster after every session. I could spray a small amount of burning chaff with water, but it's in the fire chamber below the drum and wouldn't do more than add a smidgeon of heat under the drum. I do keep a spray bottle and fire extinguisher within reach. I clean the vent and flues. Would it help to keep the drum rotating or could that allow more access to oxygen? Probably a water spray from above would be good, but I never roast dark enough to ignite beans in the drum.

A side track on using that roaster: I am surprised that she does not use software to track the roast. She uses sight, smell and sound but is coached on approximate measures like a gas dip, and I wonder how much her roast would improve if she were actually measuring changes to BT rate of rise, at least. (See two posts below. She was asked to demonstrate a roast without software.) Also cooling with my tray alone is a bit slow, so I use a strong fan from above to quickly go to room temperature.