Narrative:

Climbing out at approximately 20;000; we received a call from #1 flight attendant that the oven in the first class galley was on fire. We immediately declared an emergency and turned back toward the airport. Airspeed increase to 350 KTS leveled at 20;000. First officer and I took out our O2 masks but we did not smell or sense any trace of smoke in the cockpit. I called back to assess the situation and was told that they were fighting the fire with halon and they had also pulled all the circuit breaker in the galley. We ran the smoke/fire check list. Dispatch was notified via ACARS and company aircraft who heard or initial call to ATC. I made a PA to the passengers advising them of the situation and our return to the airport. In constant communication with flight attendant 1 and was told that they were still fighting the fire but the situation was not getting worse. Although another airport was closer; we elected to continue to the larger airport due to overweight aircraft; gusty cross winds and the short runway. If we had received info from the back that the fire was getting worse we would have headed directly to the closest airport. Shortly there after we were told that the fire was out. The flight attendants used four halon bottles. Another PA made to reassure the passengers. We then ran the overweight landing checklist and advised ATC that the fire was out. I tried to call airport operations but was unsuccessful. Approach briefed and the normal before landing checklist completed. Landed normally and were met by arff.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 Captain was informed during climb out of an oven fire in the first class galley. After declaring an emergency and turning back the fire is extinguished by the Flight Attendants. The Captain elected to divert to an airport with a longer runway.

Narrative: Climbing out at approximately 20;000; we received a call from #1 Flight Attendant that the oven in the first class galley was on fire. We immediately declared an emergency and turned back toward the airport. Airspeed increase to 350 KTS leveled at 20;000. First Officer and I took out our O2 masks but we did not smell or sense ANY trace of smoke in the cockpit. I called back to assess the situation and was told that they were fighting the fire with halon and they had also pulled all the circuit breaker in the galley. We ran the smoke/fire check list. Dispatch was notified via ACARS and company aircraft who heard or initial call to ATC. I made a PA to the passengers advising them of the situation and our return to the airport. In constant communication with Flight Attendant 1 and was told that they were still fighting the fire but the situation was not getting worse. Although another airport was closer; we elected to continue to the larger airport due to overweight aircraft; gusty cross winds and the short runway. If we had received info from the back that the fire was getting worse we would have headed directly to the closest airport. Shortly there after we were told that the fire was out. The Flight Attendants used four halon bottles. Another PA made to reassure the passengers. We then ran the overweight landing checklist and advised ATC that the fire was out. I tried to call Airport Operations but was unsuccessful. Approach briefed and the normal before landing checklist completed. Landed normally and were met by ARFF.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.