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What steps should people take to enjoy fireworks safely?
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What steps should people take to enjoy fireworks safely?
There are a lot of steps you can do to enjoy fireworks safely, but the main thing is to avoid consumer related fireworks. There are over 18,000 fires reported every year, that's reported from consumer related fireworks. And a majority of those things only can hurt you. It doesn't make any sense to try something that the best you can do is hope to not get hurt.
We have all the burns that go to the emergency department, 25% of those burns come from sparklers. We usually think of them as a fun little kid thing to do but they burn at over 1200 degrees which is more than 300 degrees needed to burn glass. So just think, it's not worth it.
Get glow sticks, go to the fireworks display, have a good time, but I would definitely avoid consumer related fireworks when it comes to firework safety.
What steps can people take to enjoy fire pits safely?
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What steps can people take to enjoy fire pits safely?
Yeah I think when it comes to fire pits I think people ... Usually it's the things that people are doing before they get to the fire. I mean using flammable liquids before you start the fire, putting fires too close to flammable objects, or not supervising a fire. I think those are definitely hazards. But we've all seen a campfire, we just kind of forget there's still a lot of danger there.
And keeping kids and pets at least three feet away from the fire. I think the recent thing I've read about was all these new shirts that are made out of nylon, which are wonderful in hot whether, but very flammable. So remember to stay away from fire when you're wearing flammable clothes and if you do get a burn to properly treat that by running it under cold water three to five minutes to get the heat out of the burn. That's what does the damage. And most people don't do that.
What are common outdoor hazards in summer?
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What are common outdoor hazards in summer?
Some of the common hazards you'll see in the summertime, in terms of what I see in family practice, would be dehydration, sun safety and pool safety. It's really important to stay hydrated, as the temperature heats up you lose more of your water, so you really need to focus on your hydration. And most of the time we're a little bit dehydrated anyway. Gets much worse in the summertime, so it's important to have water available, and not wait til you're thirsty or have symptoms of dehydration.
Sun sensitivity, we all know about sun safety and that if you think of the sun as a big giant ball of radiation, the more you get, the more damage you get. And certainly kids are more susceptible than adults, and we know that skin cancer is definitely one of the more common cancers we see.
Pool safety is really dangerous. We know kids under 14 experience a huge uptake in drownings between the months of May and August. And over 390 deaths occur each year, and most of those, 75%, occur in private pools or spas, so it's really important to pay attention when your kids are near the water.