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Beware Deep Fryer Dangers At Thanksgiving

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Deep frying your Thanksgiving turkey?

Tofurkey. It's not a bad word, just a bad idea. It's a vegetarian turkey and now, according to several vegetarian websites, it can be deep fried for your Thanksgiving pleasure. Because if it can't be delicious, at least it should be as unhealthy as the meat version, I suppose.

If you're thinking of deep frying any part of your Thanksgiving meal, you should know that, deep fryer fires cause an average of 5 deaths, 60 injuries, and more than $15 million in property damage each year according to the National Fryer Protection Agency.

Since this is a legal report and not a medical report, the lesson about deep frying is that you need to look at your fire insurance policy. Most residential fire insurance policies cover the home's structure and built-ins like cabinets and flooring against fire damage caused by lighting, electricity, and cooking (even for the annual national stupidity known as the wrongly used deep frier).

But note what isn't covered: the contents of your house, like furniture and clothing may or may not be covered - and even policies that do cover contents often cover what you paid when you bought them, not what it will cost you to replace them.

So BEFORE it's too late, check the first page of your policy which says what is covered - and your frier - because you don't want to lose irreplaceable memories like a photo album in a fire created in your zeal to fry up new memories.

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