Thanksgiving Fire Facts: 74% Start With Cooking

On an average Thanksgiving Day, fire departments in the United States respond to about 2,300 residential building fires, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). That is 2.3 times as many as on an average other day. Cooking caused 74% of the Thanksgiving fires with a known cause, compared with 51% on other days of the year. The figures cover 2017 to 2019, the period in the USFA's data snapshot.

The turkey is rarely the problem. A cook who walks away from a burner is.

The good news in the same data is that most of these fires stayed small. Here is what the numbers say, and the short list of habits the fire agencies keep repeating.

What the USFA data shows

The snapshot also finds that 54% of Thanksgiving fires were reported between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., while other days peak between 5 and 8 p.m. In total these fires cause about five deaths, 25 injuries and $26 million in property loss each year. Per fire, deaths, injuries and losses were lower than on other days, and the USFA data does not say why. About 60% of the Thanksgiving fires were in one- and two-family homes and 33% in multifamily buildings.

The wider kitchen picture

The USFA's cooking page gives year-round figures for 2021: about 170,000 home cooking fires that fire departments responded to, about 135 deaths, about 3,000 injuries and more than $494 million in property loss. Unattended equipment was the leading ignition factor in nonconfined home cooking fires, at 37%.

That fits the first piece of advice on the page: stay with your pan. If you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off. The USFA also suggests:

• If you see smoke or grease begins to boil, turn off the burner.
• Keep a lid or baking sheet nearby and use it to cover a pan that catches fire, which puts it out.
• Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove.
• Keep anything that can catch fire away from the stovetop.
• Keep a smoke alarm about 10 feet from the stove.
• Do not use extension cords for kitchen appliances.

If you are frying a turkey

The USFA's turkey fryer infographic starts with a blunt line: frying food puts you at the greatest risk of cooking fires. Its tips:

1. Use a sturdy, level surface and don't move the fryer once it is in use. Turkey fryers can tip easily, spilling hot oil over a large area.
2. Keep it at least 10 feet from your home and not under roof eaves.
3. Don't overfill the pot. Test the oil level by filling the pot with water, putting the turkey in, then measuring the water and using that as a guide.
4. Make sure the turkey is fully thawed with no frost. A partially frozen bird makes oil splatter.
5. Use a thermostat. Without one, deep fryers can overheat the oil to the point of starting a fire, so attach a kitchen thermometer to the side of the pot.
6. Use protective oven mitts because the sides, lid and handles get dangerously hot.
7. Keep children and pets at least 3 feet away.
8. Consider an electric or air fryer instead.

Buying cooking equipment secondhand

Roasters, air fryers, slow cookers and deep fryers are easy to find used. A few checks, which are my own advice built on the USFA's points:

• Check the cord and plug. Frayed or cracked cords are a reason to walk away.
• Confirm a thermostat exists on any fryer and that it works.
• Run a recall check. Our five-minute guide works for kitchen appliances.
• Ask whether it has ever been used with the wrong oil or left on. Scorching and melted plastic are warning signs.
• Make sure the smoke alarm in your kitchen area is current. See the dates to check on smoke alarms.

Around the DC area, you can browse small appliances on Buy Now or the categories page, and read the help page for how pickup works.

The bottom line

Thanksgiving brings more than twice the usual number of home fires, with cooking behind nearly three quarters of them. Stay in the kitchen, keep a lid handy, keep the fryer outdoors and away from the house, and check the smoke alarm before the guests arrive.

If you are cooking for a crowd this year, send this to whoever has the fryer.