Holiday Cooking Safety Advice

The National Fire Protection Association says that Thanksgiving is the number one holiday when it comes to kitchen-related fires because of all the cooking going on in people’s homes.  As we welcome friends and family for the holidays, Rabun County Assistant Fire Chief Justin Upchurch stresses safety in and around the kitchen. “Four times as many home cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving as compared to a typical day and unattended cooking was by far the leading contributor.  So knowing that, try to always stay around your food while it is cooking, keep the kids away, and everything like that. Cooking equipment was involved in almost half of all reported home fires and it tied with heating equipment for the second leading cause of home fire deaths. A lot of people are using the turkey fryers, there very popular but there are somethings that you need to know about when you are using them.  Always use them outdoors in a safe distance from any buildings or any flammable materials. Never use them in a garage or on a wood deck. Make sure they are on a flat surface to keep them from tipping over. Never leave the fryer unattended. Never let children or pets near the fryer. Don’t overfill the fryer to avoid spillover. One of the main causes of incidents with turkey fryers is putting a turkey that is not completely thawed, a frozen turkey, when the oil and the water mix it causes the oil to blow up and explode, which makes a very dangerous situation.”  Have a fire extinguisher available in case you do have a fire and make sure you have working smoke alarms in your home.  Please follow this fire safety advice to have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.