They're billed as every Thanksgiving chef's dream: They promise a turkey with crispy, bronze skin, sealed-in juices and less than an hour's cooking time. It's easy to see why the Southern tradition of deep frying a bird has caught on countrywide.

But turkey fryers possess a potential perhaps not so obvious to the casual cook: that for a disaster.

Firefighters and consumer product safety experts warn that turkey fryers -- both propane and electric -- are dangerous and can ruin more than a Thanksgiving dinner.

"We're talking about life-altering injuries," said John Drengenberg, consumer affairs manager for Underwriters Laboratories Inc., an independent research company that tests products for safety. Underwriters Laboratories refused to give its safety endorsement to any turkey fryer now on the market.

"There aren't a lot of products that UL has not created standards for and ultimately authorized the use of. Turkey fryers happen to be one of them," Drengenberg said.

Deep fryers have been the source of at least 119 fires since 1999, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The National Fire Protection Association discourages anyone other than a professional from using any type of turkey fryer.

Turkey fryers pose dangers in multiple ways, safety experts say.

The outdoor propane fryers don't have temperature controls, and the oil can easily overheat to the point of combustion and burst into flames. Many of the fryers can easily tip over and spill hot oil into the flame. Cooks sometimes miscalculate how much oil the turkey will displace when submerged and the oil spills over the top and catches fire. If the turkey isn't completely thawed, any ice, even under the skin, will turn to steam and can splash hot oil.

"It's bad enough to get burned by hot water, but hot oil. . . it gets on your skin and you can't get it off," Drengenberg said.

Milwaukee firefighters say the number of cooking fires triples on Thanksgiving Day and that deep fryers can cause extensive harm to people and their property.

"You've got 5 gallons of flammable liquid heated to ignition temperature. It just takes off, and it spreads out all over the place," said fire Lt. Brian O'Connor.

In a panic, people do what comes naturally. They pour water on it.

"That's the worst thing you can do," O'Connor said. "You can't put out an oil fire with water. The oil floats on top of the water and spreads out."

The best thing to do, O'Connor said, is to turn off the heat, cover the fire with a metal lid to cut off oxygen and call the fire department.

Despite the dangers, turkey fryers continue to grow in popularity. A recent survey commissioned by LouAna Peanut Oil found more than a quarter of 1,000 adults surveyed nationwide said they planned to eat a fried turkey this Thanksgiving.

And a spokesman for Masterbuilt, which makes fryers, said the Columbus, Ga., company has had trouble meeting demand this season.

"The demand was so much higher than what we forecast, we had to ship orders less than complete, so when the season hit, (stores) would at least have something," said Masterbuilt spokesman Keith Newton.

Newton said sales of electric fryers grew 70% from 2005 to 2006.

Jane Groth, a saleswoman at Cabela's in Richfield, sees at least a couple Wisconsin hunters every day who want to fry their wild catch.

"It seems to be a popular thing," Groth said.

Those who've tasted a fried turkey -- including Bob Millhoff, the executive chef at Yanni's Steak House, who has also prepared them -- understand the allure.

"It just locks in the moisture something amazing," Millhoff said of the method. "Let's face it. We're human. We love fat. The flavor is there."