Fire Dept. Shares Thanksgiving Safe

Thanksgiving is the peak for home cooking fires, occurring almost four times more often than on an average day. “You can help reduce the number of cooking fires during the holidays by following these safety precautions and protecting your family from a devastating event”.

Stay in the kitchen when cooking on the stovetop so you can keep an eye on the food.

“Turkey fryer fires can be explosive and result in serious burns”, said Glenn Gaines, Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator for the United States Fire Administration (USFA).

He says, “You don’t do it on a deck, you don’t do it under a garage, you are at least 25 feet from your home and you stay attentive”. If rain or snow hits the hot cooking oil, the oil may splatter or turn to steam that can lead to burns. The division chief also recommends that if you use a fryer to not throw the leftover grease in the garbage or pour it down the drain. Avoid overfilling the fryer, and use safety goggles and wear oven mitts.

Keep knives out of the reach of children.

The first step is to never fry your turkey inside. Three of every five home fire deaths in the US occur in homes without smoke alarms or working smoke alarms. Test them by pushing the test button.

Sioux Falls Fire Rescue would like to remind citizens of the dangers associated with holiday cooking. Get the kids involved in helping you tape off their “no-go zone”, and then find kid-friendly ways they can help in the kitchen.

Chief Russell Brooks of the Utica Fire Department gives advice on what you can do at home to make it a safe holiday.

Always cook with a lid beside your pan. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled. As soon as the turkey is safely in the pot, immediately turn on the burner and keep it at 350°F.

Firefighters didn’t have a single cooking fire to respond to on Thanksgiving past year.

“Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires”, State Fire Marshal Paul Merriman stated in a release. Out of that total, 1,550 were cooking fires. Last November they answered more than 3,000 calls about Thanksgiving dinner.

– For cooking in the kitchen, start with a clean stove and oven. Cooking (baking, broiling, boiling, frying or grilling) meat and poultry to the right temperature kills any bacteria that may be present, so washing meat and poultry is not necessary. Do not remove the cover because the fire could start again. This is more than three times the average daily rate from 2009 through 2011 of about 400 cooking fires a day.

Cooking a Thanksgiving turkey has never been so easy.