The Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office and theNational Fire Protection Association are providing fire safety tips for cooking your Thanksgiving Meal.
They also provide fire safety tips for the big day including making sure smoke alarms are working.
Below are the top tips from the NFPA on how to stay safe in the kitchen.
Top 10 safety tips
- Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stove top so you can keep an eye on the food.
- Stay in the home when cooking your turkey, and check on it frequently.
- Keep children away from the stove. The stove will be hot and kids should stay three feet away.
- Make sure kids stay away from hot food and liquids. The steam or splash from vegetables, gravy or coffee could cause serious burns.
- Keep knives out of the reach of children.
- Be sure electric cords from an electric knife, coffee maker, plate warmer or mixer are not dangling off the counter within easy reach of a child.
- Keep matches and utility lighters out of the reach of children — up high in a locked cabinet.
- Never leave children alone in room with a lit candle.
- Keep the floor clear so you don’t trip over kids, toys, pocketbooks or bags.
- Make sure your smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.
The State Fire Marshal's Office also adds tips for frying your turkey.
If you're planning to fry your turkey this year, they ask that you consider testing out the appropriate oil level a few days ahead of time with water instead. Fill up your pot with water, dip the turkey in, and if any water overflows, you'll need to use less oil when you actually conduct the fry on Thanksgiving.
Fully defrost that turkey before dropping it into the oil. Butterball has a step by step guide to frying the bird here.
The USDA also has tips on how to stay safe during meal preparations this Thanksgiving. They discuss cleaning and sanitizing before cooking, cross contamination, and how to handle leftovers.
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