The Findlay Fire Department is sharing some Thanksgiving safety tips.

Inspector Eric Wilkins says cooking is the number one cause of house fires and more cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.

While you’re cooking, stay in the kitchen and remain alert, and if you’re baking or roasting something be sure to check it regularly.

Keep anything flammable away from the stove like oven mitts and paper towels.

If you use a turkey fryer to prepare your turkey, make sure the turkey is completely thawed, as frozen turkeys and hot oil do not mix well at all.

Also, be sure not to overfill your turkey fryer and to keep it at least ten feet away from any structures.

Have a fire extinguisher nearby in case of an emergency.

“And don’t hesitate to call the fire department, that’s what we’re here for,” Wilkins said.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be doing its part to ensure people get to their destination safely this Thanksgiving.

The Highway Patrol says troopers will be cracking down on impaired drivers, distracted drivers and those not wearing a seat belt.

Troopers will be highly visible from Wednesday, November 23^rd through Sunday, November 27^th.

During last year’s Thanksgiving reporting period in Ohio, 17 people were killed in 14 fatal crashes.

Seven crashes and fatalities involved alcohol and/or drugs.

Of the 16 fatalities in which seat belts were available, nine were unbelted.

The Highway Patrol also made 305 arrests for impaired driving during last year’s Thanksgiving reporting period.

The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest night for bars and restaurants, and the Highway Patrol is urging everyone who imbibes to designate a sober driver.

StoneBridge Church is putting on their Free Community Thanksgiving Meal again this year.

Stephanie Shack with StoneBridge Church tells WFIN’s Chris Oaks that they’ve been doing this for more than 25 years and she’s excited to have dine-in return this year.

As Stephanie said in the audio above, dine-in meals will be available from 11 to 1, while drive-thru will be available from 9 to 1, and delivery is also offered within Findlay City limits.

Delivery orders need to be made by noon on Tuesday, November 22^nd.

StoneBridge Church is located at 2111 Stonehedge Drive, off of Fostoria Avenue.

The video below is from last year when we spoke with Pastor Michael Wise as he was handing out meals in the drive-thru.

The City Mission of Findlay said its shelves were starting to empty of food, but thanks to some generous people and clubs they’re filling up again.

The City Mission says Outlaws MC and partnering clubs, along with Ohio Logistics, hosted a food drive and collected food in the freezing cold.

Not only did they collect the food but they also unloaded it and put it away at the City Mission.

The City Mission of Findlay says thanks to the incredible donation of 10 tons of food, they’ll be able to provide warm meals to many hungry people in the community as the cold months begin and more people seek assistance.

For information about donating to the City Mission of Findlay, click here.

The City of Findlay has changed its website domain to FindlayOhio.gov, from FindlayOhio.com.

Mayor Christina Muryn says, as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to increase security and accountability, they’ve migrated all of their sites and emails to a .gov domain.

“The .gov domain is a reliable indicator that the site you are visiting is in fact a certified US government organization, as they are only attainable by US government agencies,” the mayor said.

Emails or links to the city’s old .com domain will automatically forward to the new .gov domain.

Moving forward, emails from City of Findlay government accounts will include the .gov.

The city reminds people that, when online or receiving emails always be sure to confirm the email address and never provide sensitive information via unsecure sources.

The city points out that it would never ask for personal identifying information over email, such as social security numbers or banking information.

The Findlay Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol has selected its Trooper of the Year.

The recognition this year goes to Trooper David Lopez II.

The 30-year-old was recognized for his outstanding service in 2022 at the Findlay Post.

Fellow officers stationed at the Findlay Post chose Trooper Lopez based on leadership abilities, professional ethics, courteous treatment of others, enthusiastic work attitude, and cooperation with supervisors, peers, and the public.

Trooper Lopez is now in contention for the State Trooper of the Year award to be announced at a later date.

Trooper Lopez joined the Highway Patrol in 2019 and has served at the Findlay Post since then.

Originally from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, he is a graduate of Whitmer High School in Toledo.

Trooper Lopez served in the United States Marine Corps for six years.

Other Highway Patrol awards received in the past include: Physical Fitness Ribbon with Star, Criminal Patrol Award and the Military Service Ribbon.

Trooper Lopez and his wife, Ciera, live in Findlay with their son Mateo.

Dispatcher Ashlee Tyree has been named Dispatcher of the Year at the Findlay Post.

Tyree is now in contention for the State Dispatcher of the Year award to be announced at a later date.

The City of Findlay is inviting everyone out to watch the city’s Christmas Tree light up.

The city’s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 25^th at Dorney Plaza in front of the municipal building.

Santa Claus will be there to help the city light the tree and then families will get pictures with the glowing tree.

The 33-foot-tall blue spruce isn’t as big as last year’s behemoth which was around 45 feet tall and stood as tall as the Municipal Building, if not taller. That was the biggest tree the city ever had.

The city thanks Jim and Bonnie Albert for donating the tree and Miller Rigging for help getting the tree to Dorney Plaza and putting it up.

After the tree lighting ceremony, Santa will walk kids over to St. Andrew’s Church for the beginning of Santa’s House, in which kids can get pictures with Santa and enjoy cookies and hot chocolate and wagon rides.

Below is video from last year’s tree lighting ceremony

A Cleveland firefighter was killed when he was hit by a car while working a crash scene.

Johnny Tetrick, a 27-year veteran of the department was hit on Saturday night on Interstate 90.

Police say the driver did not stop and fled the scene at a high rate of speed.

Police say the hit-and-run driver was later arrested and identified as a 40-year-old from Cleveland.

The governor has ordered flags lowered to half-staff in honor of the fallen firefighter.

The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Hancock County Garage on Lima Avenue in Findlay is ready for the winter weather.

Deidra Noel, transportation administrator for ODOT in Hancock County, says they started prepping their trucks in mid-October and had a district-wide inspection to make sure they were ready to go.

And as usual, ODOT is asking drivers to do their part to help their snow plow operators clear the roads as efficiently as possible.

“Just take your time and slow down, give yourself enough distance between the vehicle in front of you, especially if it’s one of our trucks. Snow coming off of a truck makes visibility even worse so just back up and give us some space.”

Noel says the Hancock County ODOT Garage has 21 trucks and is responsible for 621 lane miles in the county, including Interstate 75 from Bluffton to North Baltimore.

She says they’re still hiring for the busy winter season, and you can click here for more details.

Noel says, as a manager, she doesn’t get to plow snow as much as she used to, unfortunately.

“It’s really fun. Everybody who works here enjoys it. It’s a public service and when you’re good at what you do, you’re proud of it.”

The Ohio Department of Transportation is letting drivers know about some ramp closures that will be occurring on Interstate 75.

ODOT says the northbound ramps at Interstate 75 and County Road 99 will be closed on Saturday, November 19^th for one day for traffic signal maintenance.

The recommended detours from ODOT are below.

• I-75 northbound exit ramp to CR 99: I-75 northbound to SR 613, back to I-75 southbound.
• I-75 northbound entrance ramp from CR 99: I-75 southbound to U.S. 224, back to I-75 northbound.

Then on December 3^rd, the southbound ramps at I-75 and County Road 99 will close for the same work.