Thanksgiving Day is filled with love, laughter and family, but it is also the leading day of the year for home fires. The Glendale Fire Dept. encourages the community to keep safety in mind this holiday season.

These simple tips are a great way to be safe while preparing a beautiful holiday meal:

• Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling or broiling food.

• If you must leave your home for even a short period of time, turn off the stove or oven.

• When simmering, baking, boiling, or roasting food, check it regularly and remain in the home while the food is cooking.

• Keep children at least three feet away from the stove.

• Make sure children stay away from hot food and liquids. The steam and/or splash from vegetables, gravy or coffee can cause serious burns.

• Keep the kitchen floor clear so you do not trip over kids, toys, pets or bags.

• Keep knives out of reach of children.

• Be sure electrical cords from kitchen appliances are not dangling off the counter within easy reach of children.

• Keep things that burn – pot holders, oven mitts, paper or plastic – off your stovetop.

• Clean food and grease off burners, stovetops and ovens regularly.

• Use the stove’s back burners whenever possible.

• Turn pot handles inward to reduce the risk of pots being knocked over.

• Make sure smoke detectors are working properly. Test them by pushing the test button.

Turkey fryers can be huge threat to safety. They are designed to use gallons of hot oil in the frying process and are known to cause severe burns, injuries and loss of property. Ideally, purchase fried turkey from local retailers, but if frying a turkey at home, please use extreme caution.

The Glendale Fire Dept. encourages residents to have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.