Frequency of Burns by Body Parts of Firefighters and Hospitalization Rate according to the Type of Protective Clothing

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Fire suits are very important protective equipment for firefighters. In fire scene, radiant heat and warmed water invade into conventional protective clothing gap. The safety of firefighters has long been a hot topic in Korea. Nevertheless, there are still lack of researches and investigations for safety of firefighters. We revealed the characteristics of the burn site and the hospitalization of injured firefighters according to the wearing of the conventional and special protective clothing. METHODS: This study analyzed the data obtained from the online survey (ko.surveymonkey.com) from September 19, 2016 to October 21, 2016 for nationwide firefighters who are cooperating with the National Security Agency. 4,891 firefighters responded to the questionnaire and 424 burn victims were reported. The analysis was conducted with 322 except 102 incomplete responders. The obtained data was analyzed with Chi-square test (P<0.05). RESULTS: The most common site of burn injury during firefighting was hand 166 (51.6%) followed by face 79 (24.5%), neck 55 (17.1%) and wrist 49 (15.2%). The number of people wearing conventional protective clothing was 81 (25.2%) and the number of people wearing special protective clothing was 20 (6.2%). The number of people wearing protective gloves was 247 (76.7%). In terms of protective clothing in injured firefighters, special protective clothing showed lower hospitalization rate comparing with conventional protective clothing (24.7% vs. 5.0%, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The most common site of burn injury in Firefighters is hand. The special protective clothing showed lower hospitalization rate comparing with conventional protective clothing.