Turkey fryer fires are easy to avoid. Ottawa Fire Chief Steve Haywood says one bad thing to do is overfill the oil vat. hot oil comes out and makes contact with the flame, you could have a big fire very fast.

[audio:11261585258-HaywoodA.mp3] [/audio]

Haywood adds overfilled oil vats and cooking too close to the house are two big causes of turkey fryer fires.

[audio:11261585258-HaywoodB.mp3] [/audio]

Haywood says thaw the turkey completely before setting it in a fryer, so you have minimum moisture reacting with hot oil. And keep an ABC fire extinguisher at hand.

As the turkey goes down, the oil level goes up. The heat from the fryer could catch anything very close on fire.