Holiday Cooking Safety

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Thanksgiving is a time for family, gratitude, and delicious food, but it also comes with heightened dangers in the kitchen.

The State Fire Marshal’s office says more cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving than any other day during the year and points out that holiday celebrations can easily be ruined by fires, which are often preventable by staying alert and practicing cooking safety.

“Most of our fires that we see in the state of Ohio are for cooking are from unattended,” Metheny said. “So people start something in the oven or on the stove and it gets sidetracked or walked away. You know and if you do that, you just don’t know what is happening on the stove at that point. So make sure that you go back and keep an eye on your cooking. If you are cooking in the kitchen, stay in the kitchen.”

Metheny also recommends keeping a safe space around your stove that is free of flammable or combustible materials that can be ignited by the heat. Many people today are skipping the oven roasting for their protein of choice in favor of the trendy deep frying and smoking methods of cooking.

“A lot of people like to deep fry their turkeys,” Metheny said. “You deep fry turkeys… I personally have done that myself and it’s a little scary but they are really really good. Please don’t do that inside your garages though. Put them outside, outside of the house. Make sure you’re in an open area. And you cannot dip those things in there fast because you will end up with a boil over and it will cause a large fire. And you know the manufacturer’s instructions with those are really good and complete. Please take the time to read those ahead of time and be slow and methodical with that process and just be safe.”

Whether you are cooking inside or out, the state fire marshal’s office recommends having properly working fire safety tools readily accessible that can save your celebration from sadness.