Henrico Fire: Staying safe when cooking this Thanksgiving

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Tens of millions are celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 27, and Greater Richmond firefighters say Thanksgiving is the number one day for kitchen fires each year.

They want you to be prepared and know the rules of thumb when cooking in the kitchen and preparing the turkey as well as all the favorite fixings.

Henrico Fire Battalion Chief Doug Reynolds said at the very least have a working smoke detector installed on every floor at home.

Make sure to clear off your countertops and stovetop of any unneeded items as you go along, so they will not catch fire.

Before you fire up the oven and stove, be sure to clean off grease, as it could fuel flames.

If something does catch fire in a pan, cover it with a lid or another pan to put it out. If fires erupt in the oven, Battalion Chief Reynolds said to close it and turn the oven off.

"It seems a little disconcerting because there could be a certain amount of smoke, but the fire's not, for the most part, going to come out of that stove until it goes out. So, it will just smother," Battalion Chief Reynolds explained.

If you are frying your turkey this year, Battalion Chief Reynolds advised people to make sure the turkey is completely dry and thawed. Otherwise, it will react violently with oil when placing it in the fryer.

"When you put that oil inside of that pot and you put that turkey in there, all of a sudden, the oil will overflow because there's too much turkey," Battalion Chief Reynolds said. "All of a sudden, that goes right onto that burner and catches on fire. You're not going to stop it any time soon."