As many Bangor residents thaw their turkeys and prepare for Thanksgiving Day, firefighters and emergency medical technicians are bracing for the uptick in calls they usually see on major holidays.
Bangor first responders reported seeing more fire and medical calls on Thanksgiving, falling in line with a nationwide trend due to increased use of appliances that can start fires, heightened stress and more people traveling.
“On Thanksgiving, a lot of people with limited cooking experience are trying to cook,” Lt. Jeremiah Titus with the Bangor Fire Department said. “Any time people are using cooking appliances that don’t get used often, that can cause problems.”
Cooking can be especially dangerous on Thanksgiving if people are trying to deep fry a turkey and do so incorrectly. The most common mistakes are putting the deep fryer inside, on an uneven surface or near things that can burn easily, putting too much oil in the pot, and overheating the oil, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
“If the bird is frozen and has a high water content, it can react with the water or make the hot oil overflow, which creates a big fireball when it hits the propane tank,” Titus said.
Fire departments across the U.S. saw an average of 2,300 residential building fires on Thanksgiving Day each year between 2017 and 2019, the U.S. Fire Administration reported. That’s more than double the number of residential fire calls departments receive on a typical day.
Cooking was the cause of 74 percent of those residential building fires, and 54 percent of the fire calls came in between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., when many families are preparing food, according to the administration.
“We don’t go to a fire every day, but we do see them on Thanksgiving regularly,” Titus said. “Statewide, it seems like there’s at least one Thanksgiving Day fire every year, and sometimes multiple.”
Titus didn’t have local call data from past Thanksgivings, but said the Bangor Fire Department typically responds to about 25 calls in a 24-hour period.
Three Maine families were left homeless on Thanksgiving Day in 2018 after fires destroyed their homes in Limington, Sumner and Dixfield, but everyone was able to evacuate their homes safely.
It’s not uncommon to see a surge in mental health calls on holidays too, Titus said, because people may be experiencing heightened stress. Sometimes, first responders find someone is struggling to cope with the recent death of a loved one during the first holiday without them.
It’s also common, Titus said, to see more car crashes on holidays like Thanksgiving when people are traveling to celebrations, especially if weather makes roads hazardous.
Paramedics often don’t see an increase in the number of calls for medical emergencies because people may be hesitant to interrupt the day with a 911 call. Because of this, however, the calls medical professionals get are usually serious.
“People are less likely to call us on major holidays, but when they do, they absolutely need us,” Titus said.
