Stony Brook University Hospital Burn Center braces for busy weekend as heat, fireworks & hot surfaces injure holiday crowds
Officials are reminding people to stay safe this holiday weekend, especially in the extreme heat. They say burns can be really common from all different sorts of activities.
More Stories
Officials are reminding you to stay safe this holiday weekend, especially in the extreme heat.
They say burns can be really common from all different sorts of activities.
In Long Beach, lifeguards say the sand can give you second or third-degree burns because it's so hot.
"Last year, was the first time I saw a woman with second or third degree burns on her feet because of the hot sand," says chief of lifeguards Rich Borawski. "Wearing foot sandals, crocs, sneakers, on the sand. I can't explain how hot that sand is going to be."
It's not just the sand that can burn you. Doctors say railings, walkways and pavement can do it, too.
"They are just trying to get back to the car with their gear and everything else like that and they're walking on the hot asphalt and those patients, it's another 10 to 12 patients per year that we see around this just this time of year alone," says Steve Sandoval, medical director of the Burn Center at Stony Brook University Hospital. "By the time you already register it being too hot, it's already caused the damage."
Doctors at the Burn Center say they are ready to treat patients with all kinds of severe burns.
"The rooms are prepared for a potentially horrible season. We hope none of it's used," says Sandoval.
While many celebrate the holiday weekend with barbecues, beach and pool days, fireworks and sparklers, they all can result in major injuries. Doctors just want people to be careful because they've already been treating people for all of them.
"Sunburns can even include second degree with blistering and things like that. When you combine maybe a little alcohol, a little dehydration, you're out in the sun, maybe enough sunblock, you're not putting it on enough, and you go in the water, you come out, sunblock washes off," says Sandoval. "Sparklers, don't hand off to children. They wave them around like a lightsaber and every year we get five or six, sometimes even more kids who have hot contact burns to that."
