Each year tens of millions of people fry a turkey for Thanksgiving and fire de­part­ments re­spond to more than 1,000 fires re­lated to deep fry­ers. These blazes cause more than $15 mil­lion in prop­erty dam­age an­nu­ally, not to men­tion ser­i­ous burn in­jur­ies.

Follow some simple safety steps when you fry a turkey this year

STEP 1: A suitable location to fry a turkey is on concrete or asphalt in an open area away from structures, overhangs, and trees. Do not use your deep fryer indoors, in a garage or on a wooden deck.
STEP 2: Fill your deep fryer with water as a way to measure how much oil you will need later.
STEP 3: Place your completely thawed turkey into water making sure there is enough water to completely cover the turkey, but not so much water that it spills out.
STEP 4: Take the turkey out of the water, and mark the water level as this will be how much oil you will need. Dump the water out.
STEP 5: Fill the vat with oil up to the place you marked with the burner off.
STEP 6: Light the burner, and start boiling the oil. Make sure to follow the direction for proper temperate using a thermometer. If the oil starts to smoke that is an indication that the oil could start on fire.
STEP 7: Make sure the turkey is completely dry and completely thawed. Wipe off any condensation.
STEP 8: Turn the fryer off making sure there is no fire.
STEP 9: Carefully lower the turkey into the vat. If you drop it you could spill oil into the fire and it could ignite.
STEP 10: Light the fryer again.
STEP 11: Follow the instructions on proper cook time and temperature for the turkey. Never leave the fryer unattended.
STEP 12: Turn the fryer off when removing the turkey.
If a fire does occur call the fire department immediately, and never use water to put out a grease fire as this will only make things worse.
For more information on how to deep fry a turkey click here
We hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!