Brush Fire Safety Alert: Public Warned to Take Special Precautions When Around Fire

Dry conditions can result in fires spreading quickly

CONTACT: Todd Harper
Phone: 317-630-7808
Pager: 317-310-5972   
Email: todd.harper@wishard.edu

Indianapolis, August 21, 2012 – The extreme dry conditions that have gripped Central Indiana this summer have resulted in conditions ripe for fire to spread and develop quickly. Doctors and nurses at the Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Wishard have issued a warning asking the public to be especially careful when outside around fire.

Recently, Indianapolis and several communities lifted a burn ban that had been in place. The burn ban restricted burning trash or yard waste, outdoor “comfort fires” such as fire pits and chimineas, or camp fires. Restrictions on fireworks are still in place.

Every year many Hoosiers are injured burning brush, leaves and trash in their own backyards.  On many occasions they even host bonfires, cookouts and campfires. The dry conditions make such activities extremely dangerous, raising the risk of fires becoming out of control and resulting in severe burn injuries and, in some cases, death.

The Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Wishard hopes to decrease the number of burn injuries by educating the community about the dangers of open burns. The burn center has already treated patients burned while involved in such activities this summer.

"Our burn center is seeing an increase in the number of patients with severe burns including airway burns resulting from burning brush and garbage,” said Dr. Rajiv Sood, medical director of the Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Wishard and associate professor of plastic surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “This is a totally preventable injury. Remember, experience does not prevent injury.”

Verified by the American College of Surgeons and the American Burn Association, the Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Wishard treats more than 350 inpatients and 3,200 outpatients each year. Since 1993, the burn center has seen an increase of approximately 15 percent per year in the number of patients treated. The burn center at Wishard is regarded as one of the finest and most progressive burn centers in the United States.   

For more information about burn prevention, please call the Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Wishard’s burn prevention hotline at 1-866-339-BURN.