Statewide Ban on Recreational Fires Resulted in a Significant Decrease in Campfire-Related Summer Burn Center Admissions

Abstract

Every summer, there is an increase in the number of burn injuries caused by accidents around campfires. Because of the prevalence of drought, high winds, and uncontrolled wild fires, a statewide ban on recreational fires was instituted in New Mexico from June to July 2011. We hypothesized that this legislation would have a significant impact on burn admissions caused by campfire-related injuries. A retrospective review of summer admissions to a state burn center was conducted to assess the effect of this ban on recreational fire injuries, and these data were compared with that of the previous summer when no ban was in effect. All burn admissions to a state burn center were reviewed from Memorial Day to Labor Day in 2010 and 2011. Data collected included cause, % TBSA, age, days of hospitalization, intensive care unit days, and total surface area grafted. Nonparametric statistical analysis was performed with Fisher exact test for dichotomous data and Mann-Whitney test for continuous data with significance at P < .05. There were 164 burn center admissions between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2010 (n = 82) and 2011 (n = 82). Compared with all summer burn center admissions, patients injured by campfires were younger (18 vs 37 years; P = .002) with smaller total surface area burns (3.2 vs 6.2%; P = .41) and had shorter lengths of stay (10-11 vs 6-7 days; P = .62). There was more than a 3-fold decrease in burn admissions due to recreational fires during the study period (n = 14 [17%] in 2010 and 4 [5%] in 2011; P = .02). This resulted in a decrease in the number of patient-days from 91 in 2010 to 25 in 2011. Half of the camp fire admissions required skin grafts to definitively close the wounds (6/14 in 2010 and 2/4 in 2011). Recreational fire bans targeted at controlling wildfires during conditions favoring rapid spread were associated with a 3- to 4-fold decrease in campfire-related burn admissions. Compared with a summer when no fire ban was in effect, the number of patient-days decreased from 91 to 25.