Cooking fires, burns spike around holidays
UCI Health Regional Burn Center medical director shares tips for preventing injury
IN THE NEWS: The holidays are the season for expressing gratitude, spending time with loved ones and, if you’re not careful, getting burned. According to the National Fire Protection Association, home cooking fires spike as much as 400% above the daily national average on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
Many of these fires and their resulting injuries are preventable, says UCI Health Regional Burn Center Medical Director Dr. Syed F. Saquib. He visited KTLA5 ahead of Thanksgiving to discuss how to reduce the risk of an accident or injury.
“Make sure smoke detectors are functioning, make sure the stove is supervised by an adult when it’s on. Keep kids and pets at least three feet away from the stove when on and make sure there are no flammable materials near the stove.”
Saquib also cautions against wearing loose-fitting clothing while cooking, as it can easily get caught on a flame.
“If you implement these basic measures, you will substantially reduce the risk of you or a loved one sustaining a burn injury.”
Saquib is a trauma surgeon and an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).