AUSTIN, TX (KXAN) – Stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie all go great with a turkey dinner. One thing that doesn’t – fire.
The Austin, Texas Fire Department put together a demonstration ahead of Thanksgiving showing the dangers of what can happen if someone tries to fry a turkey – but doesn’t do it right. This year there wasn’t a huge fire, but the firefighter dropping in the frozen turkey leaped out of the way as it splashed the boiling oil.
“We were hoping to see a dramatic flame effect,” said AFD Battalion Chief Joe Limon. “It didn’t happen today, but still – just the fact that oil was coming out – hot oil. You know if your children or your animals or yourself – you could have been close to it and got burned.”
Here are AFD’s top tips for safe cooking:
- For those who are frying turkeys – make sure it is completely thawed and not frozen, don’t put in too much oil and make sure to cook it at least 10-15 feet away from buildings.
- Make sure nothing flammable (like dish towels) are too close to the stove
- Never leave food unattended
That last one is a big one, especially around the holidays with more people and children in a house.
“The phone rings, we get distracted, we go answer the phone or something catches our attention on the television, we leave food on the stove and then we come back – it’s on fire,” Limon said. “We panic – what’s the first thing we do? We get a glass of water, throw it on the skillet and it becomes a big inferno.”
Instead, people should keep a fire extinguisher nearby and use it, baking soda or a tight-fitting lid to put out the flames. If the fire spreads beyond the pan, AFD says people should get out and call 911.
