Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, with more than 3x the daily average

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Who doesn’t love a great Thanksgiving feast with all the fixings on the table? The biggest debate often centers around whether baked turkey or fried turkey is better.

However, when it comes to Thanksgiving, turkey fires are a significant concern.

According to Lieutenant Eric Soles from Clay County Fire Rescue, it’s important for residents to take extra precautions to stay safe and prevent fires while preparing their Thanksgiving meals.

“We see an uptick in the fires from cooking, more so grease fires from the outdoor frying of the turkeys,” he said.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, with more than three times the daily average for such incidents.

On Thanksgiving, cooking causes 52% of all reported home fires and nearly 36% of home fire injuries, and it is a leading cause of home fire deaths 17%.

Fire Prevention Awareness Month

Here are a few safety tips provided by the American Red Cross for cooking outdoors on Thanksgiving.

• Keep turkey fryers or deep fryers outdoors and off any wooden surfaces or deck-type material.
• Make sure the fryer is at least 10 feet from your home or other structures
• Don’t overfill the frying pot.
• Thaw your turkey entirely, and don’t leave the turkey unattended while frying
• Avoid wearing loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking
• Keep kids and pets at least three feet away from cooking areas
• Don’t place a frozen Turkey in a deep fryer

In the video below, using a deep fryer to cook a turkey can ignite quickly if not done properly. It only takes seconds for a home to become engulfed in flames.

What are some safety tips for people cooking indoors?

• Keep anything that can catch on fire — potholders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper or plastic bags, food packaging, towels, or curtains—away from your stovetop, oven, or any other appliance that generates heat
• Keep any unnecessary utensils or cooking materials off the stove
• Avoid wearing loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking.
• Have an extinguisher always available, especially in the kitchen
• Check smoke detectors and add new batteries

(Clay County Fire Rescue / Red Cross)

Here are a few steps in the event of a fire

• Call 911 and evacuate the structure, including pets
• Have a meeting place for the family out front somewhere for when Fire Rescue does show up

Tell us how you like your turkey or what your favorite dish is.