Pavement Temperature and Burns: Streets of Fire

Abstract

Study objective: To measure pavement temperatures over a 24-hour period to determine when patients are at risk for burns and to report cases of pavement burns with predisposing factors. Design: Descriptive study of pavement temperatures and retrospective case series of 23 patients with pavement burns admitted to the Maricopa Medical Center during the years 1986 to 1992. Participants: Twenty-three patients with pavement burns serious enough for them to be admitted to the burn center. Results: We measured the temperatures of asphalt, cement, and other outdoor materials hourly for one 24-hour period using a thermocouple thermometer. Asphalt pavement was hot enough to cause burns from 9 AM to 7 PM during the summer months. It was hot enough to cause a second-degree burn within 35 seconds from 10 AM to 5 PM. The group of burned patients could be divided into three categories: incapacitated, restrained, and sensory deficient. All burns involved less than 13% of the total body surface area. Conclusion: During summer days in the desert, pavement is often hot enough to cause burns and does so with regularity in the southwestern United States. No one should be allowed to remain in contact with hot pavement, even transiently. [Harrington WZ, Strohschein BL, Reedy D, Harrington JE, Schiller WR: Pavement temperature and burns: Streets of fire. Ann Emerg Med November 1995;26:563-568.]