Thanksgiving is supposed to be an enjoyable day filled with food, family and football, but a fire can quickly turn what’s supposed to be a day of joy into a day of tragedy.
Thankfully, most holiday fires are preventable with common sense, Morgantown City Fire Marshal Ken Tennant said.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there were an estimated 2,400 residential building fires per year on Thanksgiving from 2014-2016, causing an estimated five deaths, 25 injuries and $19 million in property damage.
“Well, the big one we see most often are the deep-fried turkeys, of course,” Tennant said. “That’s a very popular thing to do.”
Having too little or too much oil in a deep fryer adds to the risk of a grease fire and can be avoided by reading the directions that come with the fryer — something a lot of people don’t do, Tennant said.
“One thing you don’t want to do is use these inside your house or underneath an overhang or on a deck,” Tennant said. “You really need to get these things out into the driveway or somewhere that’s safe on a hard surface that won’t turn over.”
Anything that you can think of that would knock a fryer over has to be moved, from kids to pets, Tennant said.
People deep frying a turkey should have a general purpose fire extinguisher on hand. Never put water on a grease fire, as that will cause it to spread, he said. Water’s reaction with grease can be violent, so it’s also important to make sure the bird is fully thawed before putting it in a fryer.
You should also never leave a deep fryer, or oven for that matter, unattended. Tennant said he’s seen people put a turkey in the oven, leave to get something from a store, get stuck in traffic and “next thing you know the turkey is on fire in the oven.”
Other precautions to take
A lot of people decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and Tennant said it’s important to not overload circuits or leave Christmas lights on when you’re not home.
He also cautioned against leaving space heaters on overnight or when not home.
One situation Tennant has encountered is a space heater left on overnight at the foot of a bed. It came into contact with covers and caught fire.
Space heaters should always be plugged directly into an outlet because they are not designed to be plugged into an extension cord or power strip and doing so could overload the wires and cause a fire.
If an accident does happen, the holidays are just another day for emergency services and the Morgantown Fire Department, Morgantown Police Department, Mon EMS and MECCA 911 will all be fully staffed.
“The holiday is just another day in the emergency services world,” Tennant said. “We just want people and families to be safe and everybody have a good time and see their relatives and be thankful we live in a nice community, nice town.”
