Nashville Fire demonstrates cooking dangers

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) – With just a little more than a week to go until Thanksgiving, many of you are probably planning your dinner menus.

If you’re thinking about frying your turkey this year, the Nashville Fire Department has some warnings they want you to hear first.

Fire officials say when you fry foods, you increase the risk of a cooking fire.

The National Fire Protection Association says every year, deep-fryer fires cause five deaths, 60 injuries and destroy about 900 homes.

Fire officials said Thanksgiving Day is the number one day for home cooking fires nationwide.

Nashville fire officials wants to make sure you enjoy the day without needing them. That’s why they have a turkey fryer demonstration each year showing you want not to do.

So here are a couple tips from NFD to help you prevent a turkey fryer fire:

Use your turkey fryer only outdoors on a sturdy, level surface, far away from things that can burn. Officials say turkey fryers can easily tip over, spilling hot oil across a large area.

Another tip: make sure your turkey is completely thawed our before you fry it.

They say a partially frozen turkey will cause hot oil to splash everywhere.

They also say to make sure you’re using the correct amount of oil, and to first place the turkey in the pot with water.

When a cooking pot is overfilled, oil can spill over when the turkey is dropped in.

“You want to be away from a structure on a level surface. a non flammable surface. We see people fry turkeys on porches and decks. Improper size of a turkey. The turkey today was quite large. We recommend 8 to 10 pounds,” Commander Scott Lively, Chief Training Officer of Nashville Fire Academy, said.

Another piece of advice: check the temperature of the turkey fryer often with a cooking thermometer so the oil won’t overheat.

And fire officials also say to use long cooking gloves that cover your hands and arms to avoid burn injuries from the pot, lid and handles of your turkey fryer.

“Just remove yourself. call 911 on your cellphone and within a couple minutes we’ll have this taken care of,” Lively said.

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