Fire Burn Safety
Definition: Residential fires can be caused by cooking, heating, smoking, gasoline, or candles.
Magnitude of the Problem
According to the CDC (2020), fires and burns are the fifth leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths to children ages <1-19 in the US. While deaths and nonfatal injuries from fires and burns have decreased over the past 20 years, there are still far too many occurrences.
According to Safe Kids USA:
- Approximately 228 children ages 0-19 or under died due to fire and burn injuries in 2020.
- Nearly 61,000 children 0-19 were admitted to the ER and did not sustain fatal fire or burn injuries in 2020.
- In 2020, children ages 5-9 had the most firework injuries. Children ages 10-14 had the second highest rate of firework injuries (per capita).
- In 2020, the rate of fatal fire and burn injury was highest among 0 to 4-year-olds.
- The rate of fata fire and burn injuries was higher among African-American children compared to White children.
- In 2020, 9 out of 10 fata fire and burn injuries were the result of residential fire.
According to the American Burn Association, burn injury prevention practices include:
- General: Test smoke alarms regularly, change devices safely, and keep chemicals out of reach for children.
- Kitchen Safety: Storing flammable items away from heat, turning pot handles inward, and attending to food that is cooking at all times.
- Sleeping Areas: Extinguish candles before sleeping and keep heat sources away from fabrics.
- Bathroom Precautions: Set water heater below 120 degrees and supervise children who are bathing.
Prevention
Personal fire safety depends upon:
- safe storage of matches, lighters, and gasoline
- smoking outdoors and using fire safe cigarettes
- not leaving stoves, grills, or burning candles unattended
- performing proper maintenance on furnaces, fireplaces, chimneys, and wood stoves
- installing smoke detectors and changing batteries annually; and
- developing and practicing a fire evacuation plan.
Injury prevention initiatives aimed at keeping people safe from fires and burn-related injury and death include fire alarm give-aways; fire alarm safety checks; and regulations mandating fire safe cigarettes, child-resistant safety lighters, and smoke alarms in homes.
References:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics (2020). CDC WONDER Online Database.
- Safekids.org Fact Sheet Fire and Burn Injuries Among Children in 2020 https://www.safekids.org/sites/default/files/documents/2022_fire_and_burn_fast_facts.pdf
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2021). National Inpatient Sample (NIS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), 2016-2018.
- National Fire Protection Association, https://www.nfpa.org/
- American Burn Association Fact Sheets, https://ameriburn.org/advocacy-and-prevention/burn-awareness-week/#burn-prevention-fact-sheets
