The Causes, Cost, and Prevention of Childhood Burn Injuries

Fire fatalities among children: an analysis across Philadelphia's census tracts

“…Our findings point to the importance of inspections for violations of fire codes in older residences where possible. The importance of low income supports the finding of other researchers that a disproportionate percentage of child fire victims come from the lowest socioeconomic level, 6,7,22,34 and that poor households have greater difficulty providing safe environments for children. The finding that areas with large proportions of single mothers have a greater risk of experiencing a fatal fire points to the problems of one parent in a household, where unsupervised and unattended children may play with fire and start a fatal conflagration, supporting the findings of Fahy, 15 Greenberg, 40 and Hussey.…”

“…13,19 Poor children are also at a greater risk of dying in a residential fire. 22 Smoke detectors are considered to be among the most important intervention strategies to decrease deaths from fires. 13,17 …”

Childhood Burn Injuries Related to Gasoline Can Home Storage

“…3 Total gasolinerelated injuries (ie, ingestions, inhalations, etc) by some estimates number 42 000 per year. 8 Between 400 to 700 children are hospitalized annually with moderate to major gasoline-related burns (Minnesota Technical Institute, unpublished data, 1988).…”

“…1 A lack of understanding of the explosive nature of gasoline by the public seems to contribute to both its improper storage and misuse as a solvent, engine primer, and fire starter. [3][4][5][6][7] This lack of awareness is perpetuated because current fire and burn prevention programs frequently do not include information about gasoline safety. [3][4][5][6][7] Major burns sustained by five children in one summer prompted this retrospective study.…”

“…[3][4][5][6][7] This lack of awareness is perpetuated because current fire and burn prevention programs frequently do not include information about gasoline safety. [3][4][5][6][7] Major burns sustained by five children in one summer prompted this retrospective study. Each case involved gasoline stored in red rectangular metal cans being tipped near a source of flame.…”