CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Thanksgiving Holiday is right around the corner and many folks are already getting prepared for their holiday feast. If your feast includes a fried turkey, the Flour Bluff Fire Department has some safety tips to follow to make sure your holiday bird makes it to the table.
Captain Christopher Burkhardt with The Flour Bluff Fire Department says, "A majority of the calls we deal with are back yard cooking fires and kitchen fires."
Anyone choosing to fry a turkey this year needs to stay attentive. Having family and company over can get in the way of the tasks at hand. What may seem like a simple fire can quickly get out of control in a matter of seconds.
Burkhardt says, "You might be cooking something and then get distracted with conversation and the next thing you know you've forgotten about something that could boil over an start a small kitchen fire or even back yard fire."
It's always good to have a safety zone to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.
According to Burkhardt, "Definitely keeping a grill or Bar-B-Que, anything you're cooking with that has a fire or ignition source at least 10 feet to 15 feet away from your home to give it that buffer."
Before anyone gets started frying a turkey Burkhardt says, preparation is key.
"The big thing is the night before take the turkey put it in the pot and fill it up with water so you know the appropriate level you need it to be at."
The next step is to remove the turkey and then mark the level where the water sits and that's your reference point to fill your grease. But just in case something does go wrong, have a safety measure near by.
Burkhardt says, "You can never go wrong with a dry chemical fire extinguisher. if something does go wrong you can get the fire extinguisher and put it out. if you use water on a grease fire you're just going to spread it."
Every year Corpus Christi and area Fire Departments respond to dozens of cooking fires as folks prepare their holiday meal. Make this Thanksgiving one to remember by staying safe, alert and prepared.
