Thanksgiving celebrations may be smaller this year, but folks will still spend ample time in the kitchen and around the table.
Linda Patty, Life and Fire Safety Educator with the Rome-Floyd County Fire Department, urges Romans to be careful in the preparation and enjoyment of holiday meals. She adds that according to the US Fire Administration, about 69 percent of residential fires during the holiday season result from a cooking incident.
Among Patty’s cooking safety tips – test your smoke alarm (in advance) to be sure that it is in proper working order, have baking soda handy in the event of a fire, and refrain from cooking too many things at one time.
And if deep fried turkey is on the Thanksgiving menu, Patty hopes that you’ll leave it up to the professionals. Those who plan to fry their own turkeys need to have plenty of space around the fryer, make sure that the bird is dry before you fry it, and turn the burner off before putting the bird into (or taking it out of) the fryer.
The weather should be good for turkey frying on Thanksgiving; the National Weather Service has predicted mostly sunny skies for that day with a high in the upper 60s.