|
| |
OVERVIEW |
|
| |
Summer safety awareness is essential to ensure happy
events are injury-free. Fire and burn injuries do not take
a summer vacation. Summer is a special time of year, a
time of the year that young and old look forward to spend
time outside and family with friends. |
|
| |
Summertime should be a
time to have fun. Knowing a few safety tips and
following these recommendations can help ensure it
will be safe as well as fun.
|
|
|
| |
Common Summer Burns:
- Boating related
- Camping related
- Fireworks
- Gasoline
- Grills
- Lightning
- Sunburn
|
|
| |
The Human and Property Costs
of Summer Burns |
|
| |
In the United States:
-
According to the National
Fire Protection Association, there are about 6,000
reported home fires involving gas or charcoal
grills leading to $30 million in direct property
damage. Most of the gas fires and explosions were
caused by gas leaks blocked tubes or overfilled
propane tanks.
- Fireworks injure more than
12,000 Americans and are also a cause of many
fires. More than half of these injuries occur
during the first week of July. Even legal
fireworks can be very dangerous.
- Improper use of fireworks
causes more than 6,000 fires and more than $8
million in property damage each year in the U.S.
- Lightning is one of the
deadliest of nature’s forces – more deadly than
any other storms. Every year about 1,200 people
are struck by lightning causing more than 100
deaths.
|
|
-
National
Fire Protection Association Summer Safety Fact Sheet,
Quincy, MA, 2001
-
National Fire Data Center 0-USFA -
"Fireworks and Barbecues Makes July a Dangerous Month"
Press Release June 21, 2000
-
Unites
States Fire Administration - "During or after a Disaster
Summer Storms Fire Safety Facts Sheets", September 8,
1998.
|
|
Safety First:
The first step to
ensuring a safer outdoor environment is to enhance our
awareness of the risks and to discover and correct
potential burn and fire hazards that can turn a summer
vacation into sorrow.
Camping plays an
important role for people who enjoy outdoor activities.
The warm weather encourages more outdoor cooking and
with young children playing around campfires, they
become more vulnerable to burn injuries. Our bright
summer days may put smiles on our faces, but these
smiles can turn to frowns when a young child get
sunburn
from not being properly protected from the sun. |
|
The Nature and Characteristics
of Burns
A burn is damage to the
skin and underlying tissue caused by heat, chemicals or
electricity - a very simplistic definition for a very
complex injury. Burns damage or destroy one or more
layers of the skin. Deeper burns may involve the fat,
muscle or bone. |
The temperature to which the skin is
exposed and the length of time the skin is exposed to the
burning substance determines the depth of the injury. Burns
range in severity from minor injuries that require no medical
treatment to serious, life-threatening or fatal injuries.
Burns are categorized in terms of degrees, which are described
below. Partial thickness injuries to the skin include first
and second degree burns; full thickness injuries encompass
third degree and deeper burns.
|
Type of Burns: |
Characteristics: |
|
Superficial Burn (first degree)
|
|
|
Partial Thickness Burn (second degree)
|
|
|
Full Thickness Burn (third degree)
-
Destroys all layers of the skin
-
May involve fat, muscle and bone
-
Will require surgery for healing
|
-
Skin may be bright red or dry and lathery,
charred, waxy white, tan or brown
-
Charred veins may be visible
-
Area is insensate – the person is unable to
feel touch in areas of full thickness injury
|
Supported
by the International Association of Fire Fighters
|
