There are several different ways to prepare your Thanksgiving turkey. Roast it. Brine and smoke it. Or, braze, bake and broil it.
You can also deep fry it, but that can be dangerous.
In a video produced by State Farm back in 2011, William Shatner recreates his own experience of carelessly using a turkey fryer, creating a giant fireball.
The flames in that video were just special effects. But the danger is real.
Micheal Warzewick, public education coordinator with the Office of the Alaska State Fire Marshal, said they’re discouraging the use of gas-fueled, hot oil turkey fryers. But, if you do use them, then use extreme caution.
Warzewick’s office is passing around a National Fire Protection Association video that shows firefighters lowering a partially frozen turkey into a fryer of boiling oil, instantaneously melting the ice inside the turkey.
“Water and oil don’t mix very good, and then you have steam expanding very fast,” Warzewick said. “It displaces oil because you have so much steam coming off of the turkey as the hot oil is melting it.”
When the oil splashes on the burner’s open flames, the fireball can cause serious injuries and start a structure fire if the fryer is located in a garage or under a porch.
- Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. and Christmas Eve.
- In 2015, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,760 home cooking fires on Thanksgiving, the peak day for such fires.
- Unattended cooking was by far the leading contributing factor in cooking fires and fire deaths.
- Cooking equipment was involved in almost half of all reported home fires and home fire injuries, and it is the second leading cause of home fire deaths.
Source: NFPA’s Fire Analysis & Research Division
Warzewick says it’s unknown how many people are injured or how much property is damaged by turkey fryer fires. Many of the incidents go unreported. In addition, many of their statistics on structure fires don’t list a cause or source of ignition.
“Fire doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are, or what you’re race is,” Warzewick said. “If you’re careless with it, it will affect everyone the same.”
Warzewick has this list of safety tips if you decide to deep fry your Thanksgiving turkey:
- Make sure your turkey is completely thawed and dried out.
- Lower the turkey slowly into the oil.
- Wear gloves and clothing to protect any exposed skin from splattering hot oil.
- Don’t ever deep fry a turkey indoors. Do it outdoors at a safe distance from your house on a solid surface, not a wooden deck.
- Turn off the burner’s gas supply if the oil starts smoking or gets too hot, and then cover it up and let it cool down.
