FULTONDALE, Ala. (WIAT) — With Thanksgiving only days away and as families prepare their turkeys for their feasts, fire departments across the United States will inevitably receive calls of house fires – many starting with an improperly and unsafely cooked bird.
CBS 42’s Landon Wexler spent Monday morning with the Fultondale Fire Department showing us how to and how NOT to fry a turkey.
Tips to safely fry a turkey:
- Let turkey thaw, creating a less-dramatic change in temperature
- Make sure oils are at a safe level, allowing the turkey to enter the pot without overflowing oil. Overflowing oil is what spreads a fire quickest
- Attend to frying turkey for entirety of cooking
- Make sure frying pot will fit oil and turkey
- Have a fire extinguisher on-hand
How not to fry a turkey (dangers shown above)
- Unsafe oil levels
- Frozen turkey
- Uneven frying surface, creating potential for the pot to tip
- Put out grease fire with fire extinguisher – NOT water