How to deep-fry a turkey without setting your house on fire

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Saturday, November 19, 2016
Crews show how not to deep fry a turkey
Fire crews demonstrated what not to do when deep frying a turkey for Thanksgiving

A deep-fried turkey can actually be quite dangerous around the holidays, so fire rescue crews put on their yearly demonstration showing the dangers this cooking method.

Crews showed what could happen if the turkey is frozen and lowered into hot oil.

Safety experts offer these important tips to prevent a disaster:

  • Set up the fryer more than 10 feet away from your home, and on a level surface
  • Make sure the turkey is thawed and dry
  • Keep an eye on the oil temperature

"The issue with these hot oil propane deep fryers are they contain large quantities of oil which gets very hot, hundreds of degrees. It can cause severe burns," explained firefighter Mike Jachles. "Thanksgiving is the number one day in the US for residential fire - most common day we see house fires."

Experts also say you should have a fire extinguisher nearby and working smoke detectors.

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