Caution urged when frying turkeys

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Austin Fire Department and the H-E-B grocery store chain teamed up Monday to provide a safety reminder to accompany a Texas Thanksgiving tradition.

The tradition: Deep-frying a turkey.

The reminder: Done improperly, those birds will burn, and so will the hot oil.

One common mistake, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department said, is putting too much oil in the frying pot, which can send flammable oil spraying onto the fryer flame.

Another is dropping a frozen turkey into the oil, which can cause a turkey explosion.

"We're not discouraging frying turkeys," said fire fighter Holly Montgomery. "Fried turkey is good. We just want everybody to be careful while doing it, and remember these main steps, main points to prevent these fires."