What We Do

Stopping burns before they happen

Friday, 15 April 2011 08:26

Easter is a wonderful time for kids-the weather is beautiful, they get holidays from school, and who could forget all that chocolate?

Unfortunately, the Royal Children’s Hospital treats many kids with burns resulting from common household items and holiday activities – particularly campfires.

To keep Queensland kids safe and happy this Easter, we’re reminding families to take care over the holidays.

Did you know that the average-sized campfire is capable of generating over 500 degrees of heat?



When extinguished with sand or dirt, campfires can retain heat up to 100 degrees for over eight hours, but when extinguished with a bucket of water it retains little or no heat after a period of 10 minutes.

Campfires should be contained and controlled, lit in clear areas away from branches and grass, and always extinguished with water.

When kids are home on holidays, it’s even more important than usual to take care with household items like irons and hair straighteners, and with foods like hot noodles and cups of tea.

 As little as one second of body contact with material heated to a temperature of 70 degrees will inflict a third-degree burn on a child’s skin.

If a burn does occur, keep it under cool running water for 20 minutes and seek medical treatment immediately. Researchers at the RCH have discovered that this is the best first-aid treatment to improve burn healing and reduce scarring.

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