Burn Awareness and Prevention

National Burn Awareness Week, observed the first full week in February, is a window of opportunity for organizations to mobilize burn, fire and life safety educators to unite in sharing a common burn awareness and prevention message in our communities.

National Burn Awareness Week is underway and the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District is providing tips to remain safe at home, work or outdoors. The theme this year from the American Burn Association is “Contact Burns – Hot Surfaces Damage Skin.” In the United States, approximately 400,000 people receive medical care for the treatment of burn injuries every year. In 2018 alone, there were 3,655 deaths from fire and smoke inhalation and another 40,000 people were treated in hospitals for burn-related injuries. The majority of these injuries are preventable!

Most burn injuries occur at home and about one-third are to children under the age of 5. The leading causes of contact burns to young children are from touching heating and cooking equipment, other household items, and walking barefoot on hot pavement.

Tips to Prevent Contact Burns

• Indoors, supervise children around space heaters, fireplaces, and stoves and ovens in use. Keep them three feet away from things that can get hot by using baby gates, high chairs, and playpens.
• Outdoors, keep children three feet away from barbecue grills and campfires. Keep area clear of trip hazards so no one falls into the fire.
• Turn heating pads, electric blankets, and space heaters off before sleeping. This is especially important for older adults who can suffer serious burns more quickly as their skin thins with age.
• Have hot pads available whenever cooking. Long oven mitts are best when needing to reach in or over hot surfaces, such as inside an oven or over a grill. Assume all pots and pans are hot before touching.
• Remember to treat items coming from the microwave as you would items from the oven. Make sure children are taller than the microwave and supervise them using it.
• Protect your feet by wearing shoes when walking on hot pavement or sand and keep pets off hot pavement too.

Check the files below for a fact sheet on Scald Prevention as well as a printable activity for children to learn about burn prevention.