J Korean Burn Soc.  2016 Jun;19(1):12-15. 10.0000/jkbs.2016.19.1.12.

The Characteristics of Firefighter Burn Injuries in a Burn Center: A Retrospective Epidemiological Study

• Kim H
• Kang GH
• Jang YS
• Kim W
• Choi HY
• Kim JG
• Kim M
• You KC
• Kim D
• Yim H
• Bang SH
• Lee CS

• KMID: 2353404
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/jkbs.2016.19.1.12

Abstract

PURPOSE
Firefighters are vulnerable to burn injury during firefighting. In extensive fires, conducted heat and radiant heat can cause burn injury even though firefighters are not directly exposed to fire. There has been increasing interest in the health problems of firefighters considerably since Hongje-dong fire of 2001, which claimed the lives of six fireman. However, there have been no studies done on the characteristics of firefighter burn injuries in South Korea. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of firefighter burn injuries in a burn center.
METHODS
A retrospective, single-center research was performed between Jan 2006 to Dec 2015. 24 firefighters came to the burn center. The electronic medical records of patients were reviewed.
RESULTS
Flame burns (87.5%) were the major cause of burn in firefighter. All the patients suffered second-degree or third-degree burns. Mean burn size was 6.1±6.7%. 22 of 24 patients were hospitalized and 2 of 22 hospitalized patients admitted to intensive care unit. Mean length of hospitalization was 29.1±23.7 days and mean length of intensive care unit hospitalization was 6.0±1.4 days. The face was the site most commonly burned, representing 25.8% of injuries. The hand/wrist, upper extremity, and neck were the next largest groups, with 19.4, 12.9, 11.3% of the injuries, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Firefighter burn injuries occur to predictable anatomic sites with common injury patterns. The burn size was small but, admitted patients need about 30 days of hospitalization.

Keyword

Burns; Korea; Firefighters

MeSH Terms

Burn Units*
Burns*
Electronic Health Records
Epidemiologic Studies*
Firefighters*
Fires
Hospitalization
Hot Temperature
Humans
Intensive Care Units
Korea
Neck
Retrospective Studies*
Upper Extremity