OC Fire Marshall warns about Holiday Cooking Dangers

As we welcome friends and family for the holidays, Oconee County Fire Marshall and Assistant Chief Shane Gibbs stresses safety in and around the kitchen. “The National Fire Protection Association says that Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are the two biggest holidays when it comes to kitchen related fires because there is so much cooking going on in people’s homes. A couple of things to remember is keep combustibles away from stove tops; paper towels, dish rags and anything that can ignite very easily. Don’t wear loose clothing; if you are leaning over the stove top make sure that your clothing is not coming in contact with the stove top eyes. Don’t leave food unattended; if you are frying anything don’t walk away from it to go watch a football game, always make sure you are in the kitchen while that is going on. Two things we like to stress; one, having a fire extinguisher available in case you do have a fire and two, make sure you have working smoke alarms in your home.” Chief Gibbs offers these safety tips if you plan to deep-fry your turkey this year. “If you have a turkey fryer make sure that it is on a solid-level surface because with the height of some of those cookers, they are easily tipped over. Make sure you don’t get your oil too hot. Make sure that your turkey is completely thawed because it can cause a boil over of the oil if it is not completely thawed out and that is where we have the extreme fire dangers with those turkey fryers.” Please follow this fire safety advice to have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.