Articles Posted in Burn Severity

In Nashua, NH in mid-August, a 48-year-old man was transported to a hospital following an unusual incident. It seems that a fire broke out not in his apartment, but rather just outside the entryway to his apartment, around 11 p.m. By the time firefighters arrived, the fire had been partially extinguished by residents. Furthermore, the fire was extinguished even before it could spread beyond the entryway.

Nonetheless, the man was trapped in his apartment because there was only one door that led outside, and the fire in that doorway caused smoke to fill his apartment, resulting in the man suffering poisonous smoke inhalation.

In any situation where there is only one door out of a building, windows should be considered as alternate fire escape routes, and rope ladders or some other means of getting out that window and onto the ground should be stored within reach of that window. Also, all occupants of a dwelling–including children–should know about these alternate escape routes and how to use the nearby items to get out of windows safely in case the doors are blocked by fire or smoke.

Do you know how easy it is to risk your life in a public place? Well, if you don’t think about what you will do in case of fire when you are in a public place, then it is very easy to risk your life.

The stories below provide perfect examples of how close you can come to being killed by third-degree burns or smoke inhalation in just a few minutes.

On July 11, at least two people were transported to local hospitals for smoke inhalation following a four-alarm fire that struck a Days Inn hotel just outside Baltimore, MD. According to a Baltimore County Fire Department spokesperson, the fire was initially reported at 8:14 p.m. But guests who had been staying at the hotel say that fire alarms had gone off as much as an hour earlier–many people did not know there was a true emergency until they encountered heavy smoke filling the hallways.

In early July in upstate New York, a 48-year-old Yates County man was seriously burned when a tractor-trailer caught fire while he was fueling it. The local newspaper reported that James Moore of Dundee was flown to the Kessler Burn and Trauma Center at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester after the accident in the town of Benton. The hospital listed him in satisfactory condition hours after he was admitted, which was lucky for Moore.

Sheriff’s deputies say Moore was pumping fuel into the big truck when the passenger side he was standing on caught fire. Moore suffered severe burns to his head, face, neck, chest and arms. Firefighters from two departments quickly extinguished the fire.

While the cause of the fire was not immediately determined, this incident provides a memorable lesson for everyone: Some of the most routine things we must do each day can pose a fire hazard, or cause a second-degree or even a life-threatening third-degree burn. Here are just a few examples: