To Fry or Not to Fry? Safety tips for frying your Thanksgiving meal

According to the National Fire Prevention Association, Thanksgiving Day holds the record for more home cooking fires with more than three times the daily average of accidents.

Throwing that turkey into grease plays a part in the uptick.

Overfilling your pit, not thawing the turkey fully, and not patting it dry can lead to a fire and a burnt turkey.

Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan says he understands if you can’t resist the taste of fried turkey, but at least enlist some help. “As a public safety official, as a first responder, and as a fire chief, I worry about people frying turkeys who may not have the experience frying turkeys. A first-time person frying a turkey really needs to maybe get some help, some guidance from those folks who have fried a turkey enough to know what’s safe and what’s not safe. We’ve had fires that I personally have responded to — homes that have burnt down because someone was frying a turkey in a wrong location. The grease caught on fire and it caught the house on fire, so those are thing you have to be very aware of.”

Other tips include frying your turkey outside, away from the home and having a Class-B extinguisher that is made for grease fires on hand.

Another very important note, do not put water on a grease fire and never leave a fryer unattended.