In the south, some people opt to deep fry their turkey for Thanksgiving, but if you aren’t familiar with the practice it can be extremely dangerous and has been known to cause severe burns and house fires. State Fire Marshal Butch Browning says where you choose a place to the deep fryer is very important.
“You want to place that boiler, away from your home. And we’re saying about 30-feet away from your home not under your carport, not in your home, not on a wooden deck that connects to the home,” says Browning.
Browning says a common mistake people make when they deep fry a turkey is that it’s not thawed properly. Also, the amount of oil used in the boiler is imperative. “When you have the grease in the pot, and the grease is boiling, you need to make sure that that pot is not completely filled with grease. Typically about half of that pot has grease in it so when you drop that turkey in the grease doesn’t boil over,” Browning stated.
If the turkey is not defrosted completely and there’s an excessive amount of grease in the fryer, Browning says the combination can be deadly.
“The cause of that fire is that the grease boils over, either because the turkey is frozen or because you have too much oil in the pot, that the grease goes underneath that pot to the burner and causes a very quickly burning firm, almost an explosive fire,” Browning says.
He recommends that you always have a working fire extinguisher on hand and never use water to put out a grease fire. Also, do not allow children around when deep-frying a turkey and check your smoke alarms during the holidays to be sure they are working properly.
