Fire & Burn Safety

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: 

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics (2020). CDC WONDER Online Database.
2. 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
3. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2021). National Inpatient Sample (NIS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), 2016-2018.
4. National Fire Protection Association, https://www.nfpa.org/
5. American Burn Association Fact Sheets, https://ameriburn.org/advocacy-and-prevention/burn-awareness-week/#burn-prevention-fact-sheets