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Fire Safety Tips When Deep Frying Your Thanksgiving Turkey
With Thanksgiving only a few weeks away, your local team at Restoration 1 of Fox Valley thought it pertinent to provide a few important tips on what not to do when attempting to fry a turkey. For anyone who has seen the mishaps you know that this is no joke. Have a safe Thanksgiving with no trips to the ER. 1. Measure how much oil you will need first. Before you fill the fryer with oil, put the turkey in the cold fryer and using cold water, fill until the turkey is covered. Keep track of how much water is used. Then fill the fryer with that same amount of oil. This will keep your oil from overflowing when you drop your turkey for frying. via GIPHY 2. Keep it outside. Fry your turkey outdoors, on a flat and level surface. Preferably on grass or driveway, not a deck, and as far from the house, garage or deck as possible. Also, remember that oil is also hard to clean off of concrete. Make sure to clear the area of children, pets, and intoxicated relatives. Being aware of these precautions will help you avoid fire damage cleaning and fire restoration in your home. 3. Thoroughly thaw that frozen Turkey. When a frozen turkey hits the hot oil, the moisture turns to steam and that steam expands the oil and causes a dangerous flare up causing splatter and a spillover effect, starting an explosive fire and a lot of smoke damage. 4. Stuffing on the side. You will have to keep the stuffing on the side when frying a turkey. Submerging the stuffing hot oil will not be appetizing. Remember to remove the giblets from the bird’s cavity before frying. 5. Turn off the burner before lowering the bird into the oil. This will limit the flare up should anything go wrong as you lower your bird into the hot oil. Do not drop the turkey into the deep fryer. Once the bird is securely in the fryer you can restart your burner and congratulate yourself for avoiding fire damage. 6. Do not attempt to move the pot. Moving a pot of hot oil is extremely dangerous. Your deep fryer should stay in one place until your oil is cooled. 7. Use a thermometer. Your oil should be no hotter than 350 degrees. This is a safe temperature to operate under and it will help to control the process to avoid any mishaps. 8. In this case, a watched pot does boil. Do not leave your turkey unattended. If necessary, take shifts. It can only take a moment for something to go wrong. 9. Be ready to extinguish if something goes wrong. Have a fire extinguisher and a heavy blanket ready in case things get out of control. DO NOT use water when trying to extinguish. See number 3 above, water will only spread the ignited oil. 10. Stay sober until after the oil has cooled. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for all our blessings. One of which is a successfully fried bird, better to be alert until this bird is cooked. 11. Have that beer before you carve. Celebrate your success while the turkey rests for at least 30 minutes, in order to retain the hot juices. Enjoy your meal.
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