Danger of BBQ Pit Injuries
By
KGNS News
Story Created:
Dec 27, 2012 at 6:12 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Dec 27, 2012
It's no secret people in Laredo love to BBQ.
But not everyone is safe around the flames.
Our Lauren Kendrick spoke with a doctor and joins us now with more.
It's not uncommon for doctors to treat patients with burns and most of the time it's due to being careless.
However, there is an easy way to avoid those injuries.
LMC medical director for the emergency room, Dr. Luis Pellicia says there is a real danger with BBQ pits. Mainly with people not using proper fuel to light the pit. Instead, he says people are using gasoline.
"Gasoline is a very volatile substance. what that means once it's exposed to air, it starts putting out gases."
That creates an explosion.
"When that happens, you have a very hot flame. probably going anywhere between 600-800 degrees."
Doctor Pellicia says sees injuries from these type of burns too often. In fact, he recently had a patient who was rushed in to the emergency room.
"He suffered pretty severe burns to his respiratory tract, arms, chest, face and they were very extensive burns."
He says the victim had to be flown to a burn unit. He adds that most people with injuries like this have a 30% chance of surviving. Another warning Pellicia gives is to those people who BBQ on their apartment patios.
"When you're cooking outside, the carbon monoxide goes into your apartment and to your enclosed space."
Since carbon monoxide is an odorless gas, he says people don't realize until it's too late.
