Burn Awareness Week: Tips on Avoiding Burns on You and Your Family

When most people hear burn, they associate it with fire. And as we all know, fire can be dangerous especially if it makes contact with the skin. The first week of February marks Burn Awareness Week which is a great time to focus on teaching kids safety tips that will help them avoid burn injuries.

Many items can easily burn us from cooking liquids to grease to hot water and hot foods. A whopping 46% of burns reported occurred from these scalding items with 53% of this number being from children under five years old. Scalds are actually the most common burn injury in young children and, sadly, one of the leading causes of accidental death.

While these numbers can be scary to hear, as a community and within our homes, we can help eliminate and prevent these injuries from occurring with a few simple actions on our part. Here are some tips to helping prevent burns!

·         Make sure to supervise children while they are in the kitchen or dining area. Accidents happen very quickly.

·         Children are always reaching and grabbing for things. To prevent spills while cooking on the stove, use the back burners.

·         Keep hot foods out of reach of children.

·         Have your hot water heater set to a max of 120 Fahrenheit to prevent accidental scalding.

·         Matches, gasoline and lighters should always be out of sight and out of reach of children.

·         Already been burned? Cool it under cold running water for 10-15 minutes. But if the burn is serious, please do not hesitate to contact 9-1-1.

 This week gives you a chance to brush up on your safety skills and is a great opportunity to check your fire alarms and practice a home fire drill. You can never be too safe! For more information on Burn Awareness Week visit http://www.ameriburn.org/preventionBurnAwareness.php.

Message from Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue: