Safety tips to prevent kitchen fires during the holidays

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — Roasting your Thanksgiving turkey can be more dangerous than you realize. Officials say the risk of your house catching fire is highest on Thanksgiving day.

Cooking is what causes most holiday fires, so fire prevention starts in the kitchen.

Lt. Greg McLellan of the Pensacola Fire Department says these house fires are often preventable.

With the holidays comes family, festive food and an increased risk of your home catching fire. Cooking is the cause of more than 50% of all house fires.

This risk increases by almost 400% on Thanksgiving day alone. One of the main causes of a house fire during the holidays comes from unattended cooking.

McLellan says there’s an easy way to avoid it.

“Every time you leave the room, there’s always that chance,” says McLellan. “So the best practice is to stay in the kitchen with what you’re doing.”

McLellan says deep frying your turkey is another potential cause of a house fire.

If you plan to use a frozen turkey, McLellan says the one step most people get wrong is not letting it thaw completely. Some of the risks to consider are the potential of the fryer tipping over or pouring too much oil into the pan.

“Never leave it,” says McLellan. “Always keep your eyes on it. Sit there with it. Look after it pretty much.”

The risk of a vacation home fire extends beyond your Thanksgiving meal.

“Christmas, Christmas lights and the cold weather,” says McLellan. “So when cold weather hits, people use space heaters, sometimes they don’t use space heaters correctly, and that results in a house fire.”

The National Fire Protection Association reports that Christmas Day and Christmas Eve also record some of the highest numbers of cooking fires annually, with the daily average nearly doubling.

McLellan says the bottom line is to do what it takes to keep your home and food safe.

“Have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen,” says McLellan. “And if it gets too bad, get out. Get everybody out. Also have a smoke alarm going in your house.”

Whether you’re a seasoned Thanksgiving cook or a novice, McLellan says it’s best to have a plan in case something goes wrong.