Getting ready to host Thanksgiving is always stressful. … Like last year when I panicked in Glen’s and bought a 22-pound turkey just so I’d have enough for my "crowd" of six. This year the Quam crew is traveling to Luverne again, and I’m just barely stressed. I’ve got enough holiday cooking under my belt to coast through this one.Or so I think.Thanksgiving Day fires in residential structures cause more property damage and claim more lives than residential fires on any other day.That’s according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Not surprisingly, cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fires on Thanksgiving Day.On Thanksgiving 42 percent of house fires are caused by bad cooking — double that of a normal day.I would have thought that poorly vented fireplaces or candles placed too close to drapes were bigger problems. But it’s much simpler than that. The Fire Administration says the leading factor in the cooking fires is food left unattended.Thanksgiving Day cooking blunders that cause fires seem kind of funny, but they’re not.Each year there are nearly 4,300 fires in the United States on Thanksgiving Day causing 15 fatalities, about 50 injuries and nearly $27 million in property damage. I’m checking my fire extinguisher just in case something distracts me from my kitchen duties enough to make me face a flaming green bean casserole or charred squash. Some people burn their food, but others just don’t know where to start in preparing a Thanksgiving meal. If that’s your case, don’t call me, call Butterball’s Turkey Talk-Line at 1-800-BUTTERBALL. There 50 specialists including nutritionists, dietitians and home economists service more than 100,000 calls in the months of November and December. Mary Clingman has been talking turkey for 20 years. She shared her favorite caller story on the Butterball Web site."A flustered father called Clingman at the Talk-Line a few hours after his wife had given birth to their first child. He was concerned that their Thanksgiving turkey had been thawing in the fridge for too long while he was at the hospital assisting his wife. When Clingman asked the man how much it weighed, he replied, ‘The turkey or the baby?’"Dorothy Jones has worked on the Talk-Line for 20 years. Her most memorable call was this: "A male caller was going to roast a turkey for the first time and was bogged down by his childhood memory that the turkey takes all day to cook. He asked Jones if the turkey would cook faster if he drove a railroad spike through it – ‘You know,’ he said, ‘to promote heat induction.’" Note to self: to avoid leaving food unattended and burnt and to avoid needing a turkey hotline, don’t drink any wine until dinner is served.