To help you prepare for Thanksgiving, the Raleigh Fire Department is sharing information on how to safely fry a turkey. RFD also plans to host a live fire demonstration for the media on Nov. 22 to show the dangers of frying a turkey that’s not fully thawed.
“Turkey frying can be dangerous because oil fires happen quickly,” says Lt. Lemuel Hubbard of RFD. “Make sure to plan for fire safety especially when cooking this holiday season.”
According to the National Fire Protection Association, Thanksgiving Day is the peak day for fires caused by cooking – about 1,000 home fires occur on that day.
Safety Tips for Frying a Turkey
The Raleigh Fire Department offers you the following safety tips for frying turkeys:
- Use extreme caution when cooking with oil. Hot oil can spill or splash onto the flame, igniting a fire. Also, oil inside a turkey cooker pot can stay dangerously hot for hours after use.
- Don’t overheat the oil. Cooking oil, if heated beyond its cooking temperature (375 degrees), can ignite.
- Always operate turkey fryers outside. They should also not be used under a garage, deck, breezeway, porch, barn or any structure that can catch fire.
- Make sure the turkey has thawed completely before putting it in a turkey fryer. Frozen, or partially frozen turkeys, will cause hot oil to splatter or produce hot steam, which leads to burns.
- NEVER use water to extinguish a grease fire!