The members of the Pleasant Valley Fire District would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. It's a time of family gathering and of fun. To ensure your holiday celebration remains enjoyable, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has created a list of 10 safety tips to keep your holiday memorable in a good way.

* Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stove top so you can keep an eye on the food.
* Stay in the home when cooking your turkey, and check on it frequently.
* Keep children away from the stove. The stove will be hot and kids should stay three feet away.
* Make sure kids stay away from hot food and liquids. The steam or splash from vegetables, gravy or coffee could cause serious burns.
* Keep knives out of the reach of children.
* Be sure electric cords from an electric knife, coffee maker, plate warmer or mixer are not dangling off the counter within easy reach of a child.
* Keep matches and utility lighters out of the reach of children — up high in a locked cabinet.
* Never leave children alone in room with a lit candle.
* Keep the floor clear so you don’t trip over kids, toys, pocketbooks or bags.
* Make sure your smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.

Thanksgiving is also the peak day for home cooking fires with more than three times the daily average for such incidents. Christmas Day and Christmas Eve ranked second and third, with both having nearly twice the daily average.

In 2019, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,400 home cooking fires on Thanksgiving, the peak day for such fires.
Unattended cooking was by far the leading contributing factor in cooking fires and fire deaths.
Cooking caused half (49 percent) of all reported home fires and more than two of every five (42 percent) home fire injuries, and it is the second leading cause of home fire deaths (20 percent) in 2015-2019.

If you are planning on deep frying a turkey:

* Never use a frozen turkey.
* Set up the turkey fryer more than 10 feet away from your home and keep children and pets away.
* Never leave it unattended.
* Place the fryer on a flat, level surface and carefully gauge the amount of oil needed.
* Have an ABC rated fire extinguisher nearby.