Fire Safety and Prevention

National Burn Awareness Week is February 3-9, 2008

Injuries from burns have decreased slightly in the last 20 years. One of the reasons credited for this decrease is an increase in the awareness of burn causes and prevention. The National Burn Awareness Week is specifically designed to help make the public aware of the causes and treatment of burn injuries and more importantly, how to prevent burns.

By preventing fire and practicing safety around your home you will also prevent burns. Many burns that occur in the home happen in the kitchen. Review our Kitchen safety page and remember to never leave the stove unattended when food is cooking. Also, remember the first tip of home fire safety, install Smoke Detectors on every floor and test them twice a year.

Despite seeing a decrease in the numbers of burns, the number of incidents reported each year are staggering. More than 2,000,000 burn injuries of varying degree have had been reported in the United States each year from 1990 thru 2000.

• Every day, 300 young children with burn injuries are taken to emergency rooms.
  
• The majority of burn injuries to children are caused by scalding.
  
• Burns are one of the leading causes of accidental death in the home for children ages 4 and younger.
  
• Each year, more than 50,000 Americans are hospitalized for burns.
  
• A serious burn is one of the most horrendous traumas the body can suffer.
  
• Burns are one of the most expensive catastrophic injuries to treat.

Making our citizens aware of the cause and prevention of accidents in the home is one of the goals of our web site, We support the IAFF Burn Foundation, and the The PA Professional Firefighters Burn Camp, and would like to recommend that you support the foundation with your donations. You can also support the Burn Foundation by being a sponsor of the Annual IAFF Burn Foundation Golf Tournament held each July. Contact us, and we will put you in contact with a member to receive more information on sponsoring a hole at the golf tournament.

Useful Resources:

• IAFF Burn Foundation
  
• The PA Professional Firefighters Burn Camp
  
• Burn Foundation Philadelphia
  
• Burn Prevention Foundation Lehigh County based
  
• Resources for kids from the British Colombia Fire Fighters Association
  
• First Aid for Burns from the Burn Institute
  

Information is provided as a guide for Burn Prevention Week and has been compiled from various resources including the web sites listed in the 'useful resources' . Much of the statistical data was found to be very different between sources and should only be used as a guide and not quoted as factual or authoritative by Readingpafire