In Canada, fire and burn related injuries are the 3rd leading cause of injury-related hospital admissions for children 0-4 years of age
1000+ children are admitted to hospital each year with burns and scalds, while thousands more are treated as outpatients.
Children who are burned require more medical care than any other childhood injury.
$17,200: Hospital cost to treat a typical childhood scald.
70% of canadian parents don’t know scalds from hot drinks and hot tap water are the cause of most burns to young children.
Most pediatric scalds occur in the home from hot drinks and hot food.
Adults who suffer burns as children have much higher rates of mental and physical illness.
Common Causes of Childhood Burns:
A hot drink, that is comfortable to drink, can cause a serious scald to a child in 10 sec.
Hot tap water at 60c (140f), the typical factory setting for hot water tanks, will cause a serious burn in less than a second.
Glass fronted fireplaces heat up to 200c (400f) in 6 minutes and take 45 minutes to cool to a safe temperature. At this temperature, a serious burn will happen on contact.
For information on the Too Hot for Tots! Childhood Burn Prevention Program, please visit www.burnfund.org
