MADISON, WI — A routine Thanksgiving dinner turned into a chaotic spectacle last Thursday when local resident Derek Thompson, 34, decided to tackle cooking for his family for the first time—resulting in a minor kitchen fire and a whole lot of holiday drama.
Thompson, eager to impress his parents, had promised an elaborate feast that included a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, and homemade cranberry sauce. “I thought, how hard could it be?” he said, shrugging off the advice from his mother to “keep it simple.”
The Planning Phase
Armed with a Pinterest board full of ideas and a family recipe book that had seen better days, Thompson started cooking in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning. The first hiccup occurred when he realized he had forgotten to thaw the turkey. “No biggie,” he thought, pulling it out of the freezer and tossing it directly into the oven. “It’ll cook faster this way!”
As the turkey began to roast, Thompson moved on to the side dishes, trying to multitask like a pro. “I watched a YouTube video that said ‘the secret to a great Thanksgiving is confidence,’” he recounted. “So I was feeling pretty good until I realized I had accidentally set the oven temperature to broil instead of bake.”
The Fiery Incident
Around noon, with the turkey still frozen in the center, Thompson noticed smoke filling the kitchen. “At first, I thought it was just the broiler doing its thing,” he said. “But then I looked closer and saw flames licking the edges of the turkey. I panicked and grabbed a towel to wave it around, like that would help.”
Instead, the flames grew, and within moments, the kitchen was engulfed in smoke. In a moment of sheer brilliance, Thompson decided to call 911 instead of trying to extinguish the fire himself. “It felt like the responsible thing to do,” he explained. “I figured it was better to have the fire department on speed dial than to end up as the next holiday disaster story.”
Emergency Response
The fire department arrived within minutes, and the sight that greeted them was both alarming and oddly hilarious: a disheveled Thompson standing in a smoke-filled kitchen, covered in flour, with a partially burnt turkey still blazing in the oven. “The firemen couldn’t help but laugh when they saw me,” he said. “One of them even asked if I was auditioning for a cooking show gone wrong.”
The firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, and the kitchen was declared safe once more. However, the damage was done—Thompson’s Thanksgiving dinner was officially a wash.
A Humble Feast
In the end, Thompson and his family decided to salvage the day by ordering takeout from their favorite local restaurant. “We laughed about it over a platter of fried chicken and mashed potatoes,” he said. “It was probably the best Thanksgiving ever—just not in the way I had envisioned.”
Now, every Thanksgiving, Thompson has a new family tradition: “Instead of cooking, I just bring the ice cream. That way, the only thing I can burn is dessert!”