Haven't had one yet, knock on wood, but after reading all the old posts and this lastest batch I offer the following as common threads.
1. High temp in use.
2. Cooker packed full of meat.
3. Foil used on grease slide (heat deflector).
Item one stands to reason as it means we have a larger open flame that is lit longer and draws more fat from the meat in a very short time. I believe that the FE's high heat capability is my best friend and don't plan on surrendering it.
Item two is what seems to be the common thread in every event. It is very easy to load the racks so that meat drippings are landing on the bottom of the cooker as well as everywhere else. Some of this grease is bound to wind up sliding down to the underside of the gease slide. The answer here is to, hate to even say it, not overload the individual grills when using high heat. I believe that this is especially important on the bottom grill level.
Item three is on that really interests me. I saw another FE in use and when the door was open noticed that the foil created a pooling of the grease on the slide's surface. I think that part of the answer lies in making sure the foil is smoothly laid on the face. This smooth surface will help in getting the larger quantities of grease quickly remove from the cooking area.
In another instance I asked a friend to foil the slide and he wrapped the foil completely around it. The opening of the foil was on top of the slide. This would have made a perfect dam to block the grease from getting off the slide.
I am extremely fond of doing smoked Chicken Hot Wings and fequently fill all four racks with them. No fire yet, but I certainly made note of some of the different ways to put one out just in case.
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