感恩节成家庭火灾高发日

Thanksgiving is the traditional day to count your blessings, but for some it is also the day to set the house on fire.

There are more home fires on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year, with fire departments responding to triple the normal number of incidents, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Not surprisingly, most of these fires originate in the kitchen from clumsy or inattentive cooks.

"The reality is the doorbell rings and your friends and relatives are at the door and you want to greet them and chat, and you just don't think to go back to the kitchen," said John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for Underwriters Laboratories, which rates the safety of products such as appliances.

Thanksgiving dinner is a big project, with the turkey in the oven and all the burners in use for side dishes. There are many people hanging around in the kitchen, drinking, chatting and distracting the cook.

It is easy to let the water boil over or the potatoes burn. Trying to put out the fire yourself can lead to injury and make the fire worse, experts said.

One way to remind yourself of the hazard is to carry around a hot pad or potholder. Each time you look down you will be reminded of the food and kitchen, Drengenberg told the reporters in a telephone interview.

The popularity of deep fried turkey has added to the fire hazards in recent years. Deep fried turkeys are boiled at searing temperatures in up to five gallons of hot oil. The practice is so hazardous for the uninitiated that not one turkey fryer has been certified as safe by Underwriters Laboratories, Drengenberg said.

While the fryers are made to operate at a temperature of around 350 degrees Fahrenheit, they can soar to as high as 670 degrees -- when the oil literally bursts into flame -- if not watched carefully.

"If you are going to use a turkey fryer, do it outside as far away from the house as possible, don't overfill the fryer with oil and never put a partially thawed turkey into the oil," Drengenberg said.

A good rule of thumb for thawing a frozen turkey in the refrigerator is to allow a day for every five pounds of meat. This means the thawing process should start days ahead of the feast, experts said.

A partially frozen turkey plunged into hot oil can send up a sudden cloud of smoke and oil that could cause a terrible burn, Drengenberg said.

感恩节是细数恩典的传统节日，然而对某些人来说，这也是家中起火的日子。

据美国国家消防协会统计，感恩节这天的家庭火灾事故数量在一年中最多，消防部门要应对比平时多两倍的火灾事故。

此类火灾大多源起于厨房，是由笨拙或粗心的做饭人引起的，这一事实并不令人惊讶。

美国保险商实验室的消费者安全部主管约翰．德仁根贝格说：“实际情况是这样的，门铃响了，亲友们站在门口，你想去迎接他们，聊聊天，于是就想不起来要回厨房了。”保险商实验室是一家测评电器等产品安全性的机构。

感恩节大餐是一个大工程，烤箱中架着火鸡，还要用上所有的炉子来做配菜。许多人都待在厨房里，喝东西，聊天，分散了做饭人的注意力。

把水煮溢或把土豆烧糊是很容易发生的事。专家表示，试着自己灭火可能会让自己受伤或是让火情更严重。

德仁根贝格在一次电话采访中告诉记者，提醒自己注意这一风险的办法之一是随身携带一块隔热垫或防烫套垫。每次你往下看时就能想起食物和厨房。

近些年来流行吃油炸火鸡，这增加了火灾风险。油炸火鸡是放在多达5加仑的热油中用高温炸出来的。德仁根贝格说，对于外行人来说，这种做法十分危险，因此从来没有一种火鸡炸锅能通过美国保险商实验室的安全认证。

火鸡炸锅一般应在约350华氏度的温度下使用，如果不小心让油真的着火时，炸锅的温度也可能飙升到670华氏度。

德仁根贝格说：“如果你要用火鸡炸锅，就在尽可能远离房子的户外使用。不要往炸锅里倒太多油，而且，千万不要把未完全解冻的火鸡放在油里。”

专家说，要给冰箱里的冰冻火鸡解冻，一条很好的经验法则是每五磅肉留出一天时间解冻。这意味着解冻的工序在节日前几天就得开始了。

德仁根贝格说，如果把一只未完全解冻的火鸡倒进热油中，油烟会立刻窜上来，这可能会造成严重烧伤。

Vocabulary:

side dishes: 配菜

boil over: (of liquid) to boil and flow over the side of a pan, etc.（液体）煮溢；潽出

searing: extremely hot or intense（灼热的）

uninitiated: people who have no special knowledge or experience of something 无专门知识（或经验）的人；门外汉；外行

literally: used to emphasize the truth of something that may seem surprising （强调事实可能令人惊讶）真正地，确实地

rule of thumb: 经验法则