What Not To Do On Thanksgiving: 15 Greatest Deep-fried Turkey ...

Fire departments across the Willamette Valley are warning everyone celebrating the holiday meal Thursday to be extra careful while in the kitchen.

Portland Fire & Rescue shared a comical meme on Twitter, advising locals to put a lid on a pan if it catches fire — don’t use an extinguisher or water or baking soda, the fire department said.

If your pan catches fire this holiday season, don't use an extinguisher or water or baking soda, just PUT A LID ON IT!!! pic.twitter.com/eGjuWyuMV8

— Portland Fire & Rescue (@PDXFire) November 24, 2021

Clackamas Fire Department warned: “Don’t turn your ‘butterball’ into a fireball!” and shared these tips for cooking a turkey over the holidays:

• Make sure your turkey is completely thawed before placing it in the hot oil, which can boil over and ignite. Moisture causes hot oil to erupt.
• Don’t have too much oil in the pot. Too much oil will overflow when displaced by the turkey and ignite when it hits the burner or open flame.
• Cook the turkey outside, away from your home and other structures on a non-combustible surface such as gravel.

Despite annual warnings and dozens of online videos showing deep-fry turkey fails, firefighters around the country still respond to calls of residential fires and worse yet, injuries caused by an improperly deep-fried turkey, Clackamas Fire said.

Here are some cooking safety tips, not only for the holidays but for year-round fire safety:

• Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stovetop.
• Stay in your home when cooking in your oven - and check it frequently.
• Keep children at least three feet from the stove to prevent burn injuries.
• Keep anything that can catch fire (oven mitts, food packaging, towels, etc.) away from your stovetop.
• Turn pot handles toward the back of the stovetop to prevent them from being reached by children.
• Keep an oven mitt and lid nearby when you’re cooking on the stovetop to smother small grease fires. Smother a small fire by simply sliding the lid over the pan and be sure to turn off the stovetop. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.
• If you have a fire inside the oven, turn off the heat and keep the door closed to prevent flames from burning you or your clothing. After a fire, the oven should be serviced before being used again.

Deep-frying a turkey is dangerous. Many first-timers fill the fryer with too much oil, or attempt to fry a still-frozen turkey. Both mistakes can cause serious fires. Every year, fire departments respond to an average of 172,900 home fires involving cooking equipment. Ranges or cook-tops were involved in 60% of these fires, while ovens accounted for about 13%.

Here are 15 of those deep-fried turkey disasters caught on video.

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No. 15: "I think we need to hold off just a few minutes"

These guys are doing everything wrong, and the turkey isn't even in the fryer yet. They've put their fryer on a deck, right next to the side of their house.

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No. 14: "Don't put anything in there."

How not to put out a deep-fryer fire.

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No. 13: "Burn, baby, burn!"

At about the 1 minute mark, firefighters show just how bad things can get when you attempt to fry a turkey that's still frozen.

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No. 12: Oil spill!

There's no fire, but at the 3:20 mark, things start to go seriously wrong. There's a reason that deep-frying a turkey and basketball shorts aren't a good combination.

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No. 11: So much for the pool-side bar

Never deep-fry a turkey next to a wooden structure, like this soon-to-be-history poolside bar.

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No. 10: So much for the eyebrows

Having too much oil in the deep-fryer is a guaranteed way to have it overflow and explode into flames.

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No. 9: Baby, you're a firework

Why a homemade fryer is a bad idea. But at least he did it outdoors.

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No. 8: "The turkey is completely ruined"

No shoes and basketball shorts: A recipe for burned skin.

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No. 7: "Watch your feet!"

Yet another turkey fryer in shorts with bare feet.

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No. 6: "Not water! Not water!"

There's a reason you don't try to deep-fry a turkey indoors. And there's a reason you don't try to put out a grease fire with water.

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No. 5: "Is that supposed to be happening?"

"Oh, there ya go ... fire department!"

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No. 4: "Call 911 now!"

Normally deep-fried turkey fires start after the bird goes into the hot oil. When the oil is already on fire, things get out of hand quickly.

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No. 3: Don't go near the water

Why deep-frying a turkey on a wooden deck isn't a good idea. Favorite quote: "You want to try the baking soda first? 'Cause that's what they tell you in biology class."

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No. 2: Turkey drop

A compelling argument for not mixing drinking and turkey frying.

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No. 1: "I don't think that's working!"

Putting the deep-fryer next to the house isn’t a brilliant move.

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