The holiday season brings with it a number of hazards that increase the risk of home fires and damage to critical infrastructure.

This year, Anchorage officials are informing residents about some basic steps they can take to prevent their property from burning down or their plumbing from becoming dirty.

One message they want to drive home: When deep-frying a turkey, be careful not to start a huge grease fire.

“You want to make sure your turkey is completely thawed,” said Lexi Trainer, public information officer for the Anchorage Fire Department.

Coach stood in front of the scorched remains of a massive turkey carcass that had burst into flames just minutes before. To alert the public to the common seasonal dangers of cooking, a firefighter used a long metal pole dipping a partially frozen turkey in a pot of very hot peanut oil outside the AFD training facility. The cooking station was immediately engulfed in a tall, hissing cloud of fire.

“You don’t want your oil to boil,” Trainer said.

According to a 2023 report from the National Fire Protection Association, cooking is the leading cause of home fires, and Thanksgiving sees by far the most calls for help sent to fire departments across the country, followed by Christmas. Social media and local news coverage are full of videos of turkeys exploding in deep fryers, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

The Anchorage Fire Department regularly responds to grease fires, although not exclusively caused by turkeys. The trainer advised that if you need to fry a large bird this Thanksgiving, make sure it is completely thawed, patted dry, and submerged in not-too-hot oil in a not-too-crowded pot. Do this outdoors, away from flammable materials. And keep a fire extinguisher handy. Never use water to put out a grease fire.

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The Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility is also seeing problems around the Thanksgiving holiday – particularly large amounts of grease and oil flowing into sink drains and ultimately clogging pipes.

“In the plumbing world, they call (this) Friday ‘Brown Friday,’ as opposed to Black Friday,” said Sandy Baker, who coordinates public relations for the AWWU. “Because there are so many backups across the country that tend to do that.”

Baker had laid out an array of common foods on a folding table to illustrate normal kitchen staples that shouldn’t end up down the drain: bacon grease, salad dressing, mayonnaise, butter, a Mason jar filled with drippings from a single 21-pound turkey. She said many foods that seem harmlessly viscous and liquid can clog and clog residential pipes, eventually clogging them entirely and wreaking havoc on the pipes.

“For the benefit of everyone, we just want to draw attention to the fact that fats, oils and fats do not end up in the sewage system. The less we have to maintain the lines, the better for everyone because that impacts your rates,” Baker said.

Baker recommends a better way to dispose of such materials is to allow them to cool and then place them in a sealed container such as a tin can or mix them with an absorbent medium such as sawdust or kitty litter before throwing them in the trash.

“Cool it, can it, trash it,” she said.

Residents should also be careful about how they place Christmas decorations, Anchorage Fire Marshal Brian Dean said. It is best not to place electric light displays directly on heat sources such as radiators. If you have a live tree, he added, it needs to be watered regularly so it doesn’t dry out into tinder. Inspect holiday lights for frayed wires.

And in colder weather, Dean said people should avoid relying on alternative heating sources, such as ovens or stovetops, to heat their homes. Space heaters can provide an extra boost of warmth, but he cautioned against plugging them directly into electrical outlets and keeping them at least three feet away from flammable materials such as paper or bedding.