Kitchen Fires Peak At Thanksgiving: Tips For Safe Cooking

Most families planning a home-cooked meal on Thanksgiving know it's the busiest day of the year in the kitchen. Thanksgiving Day also is the peak time for home fires, with 1,760 kitchen fires reported nationwide in 2015, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Among kitchen fires reported in the past five years, the agency said 43 percent occurred due to unattended cooking. Three of every five kitchen fires start on the stovetop, while 13 percent begin in the oven.

The association offers the following safety tips to make your Thanksgiving dinner plans memorable for all the right reasons by preventing kitchen fires:

• Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stovetop so you can keep an eye on the food.
• Stay in the home when cooking your turkey and check on it frequently.
• Keep children at least three feet away from the stove and away from all hot food and liquids. The steam or splash from vegetables, gravy or coffee could cause serious burns.
• Keep the floor clear so you don’t trip over kids, toys, pets or packages.
• Be sure electric cords from an electric knife, coffee maker, plate warmer or mixer are not dangling off the counter or close to a heat source.
• Make sure your smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.

"At Thanksgiving, when people are cooking multiple dishes and entertaining guests, it's easy to get distracted," said Lorraine Carli, NFPA's vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. "These distractions may prompt them to walk away from the kitchen or forget something is cooking on the stovetop or in the oven. These factors can all increase the likelihood of a cooking fire."

If you have a small grease fire on the stovetop, quickly smother the flames by sliding a lid over the pan and turning off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled. Never use water to try to put out a grease fire.

If you have a small fire in the oven, turn off the heat and keep the door closed until there is no flame.

If a small fire occurs in your kitchen and you have any doubt about your ability to suppress it, leave the area immediately and call 911 from outside the home.

If you have plan to make room in your oven for side dishes by deep frying your turkey, a number of precautions should be following. The NFPA "continues to believe that turkey fryers that use cooking oil, as currently designed, are not suitable for safe use by even a well-informed and careful consumer," the agency said in a news release. "These turkey fryers use a substantial quantity of cooking oil at high temperatures and units currently available for home use pose a significant danger that hot oil will be released at some point during the cooking process. In addition, the burners that heat the oil can ignite spilled oil."

The Consumer Product Safety Commission also advises against fryers. The commission began issuing warnings about turkey deep fryers in the late 1990's and the group works with the manufacturing industry and voluntary standards organizations in an attempt to improve the fryers' safety.

But if that's your preferred method for cooking a turkey, both agencies offer a number of safety tips. First, don't use more oil than necessary. If the fryer manufacturer doesn't specify an amount, you can determine how much is needed by placing the turkey in the fryer's pot and filling the pot with water until the turkey is covered by a half inch of water. Then remove and dry the turkey, mark the water level, empty the pot and refill with oil to the marked level.

Here are the additional recommended safety tips for using a turkey fryer:

• Keep the fryer in full view while burner is on.
• Place fryer in an open area away from all walls, fences or other structures.
• Make sure there is at least 2 feet of space between the liquid propane tank and fryer burner.
• Place the liquid propane gas tank and fryer so that wind blows the heat away from the gas tank.
• Never use a fryer in, on or under a garage, breezeway, carport, porch, or any structure that can catch fire.
• Completely thaw (USDA says 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds) and dry turkey before cooking. Partially frozen and/or wet turkeys can produce excessive hot oil splatter when added to the oil.
• Raise and lower food slowly to reduce splatter and avoid burns.
• Cover bare skin when adding or removing food.

Officials say you should check the oil temperature frequently. If oil begins to smoke, immediately turn the gas supply off.

If a fire occurs, immediately call 911. Never attempt to extinguish a grease/oil fire with water.

Image via Pixabay