Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
The Dangers of Fireplaces for Children
Massachusetts attorney Thomas M. Kiley, http://www.tomkileylaw.com, concentrates on legal issues regarding defective products. A recent article in the Washington Post illustrates the dangers of fireplaces for children.
According to the article, several children have been seriously burned by touching the glass on artificial gas fireplaces. Children’s Hospital typically sees 60 burns per week, but this past winter those numbers increased significantly. Between January 1 and February 24, the hospital admitted nine cases of serious fireplace burns; normally only 2 or 3 would have to be admitted. Most parents don’t realize how hot the glass fronts of the fireplaces can become, even when the fire is turned on low. They assume the glass is like an oven door and will not get hot.
In reality, the glass front of a gas artificial fireplace can heat up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit 10-15 minutes after turning the fireplace on, and stays hot even after the fireplace is turned off. After turning it off for one half hour, it will be close to 150-200 degrees Fahrenheit. According to doctors at Children’s Hospital, at 150 degrees F, a person could get a third degree burn after being exposed for 5-6 seconds; while a one second exposure at 500 degrees F can cause the most serious burns.
Third degree burns are extremely painful and can require skin grafts to repair. This kind of injury is extremely traumatic for children, particularly toddlers who are just learning to walk and might fall against a hot gas fireplace and not be able to pull away immediately. This kind of injury is also emotionally traumatic for families, who have to watch as their children are in pain, change bandages, and help them with painful physical therapy.
According to the article, parents can child-proof their fireplace by putting a screen or gate in front of it and watch their children at all times when they are near the fireplace. Parents need to train their children not to touch any parts of the fireplace. The Consumer Product Safety Commission also suggests that parents make sure children can’t turn on the fireplace.
Another danger from fireplaces is poor air quality. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidest.html#1AQHome1, indoor pollution can be the result of fireplaces that release gases or particulates into the air. If this indoor pollution is combined with inadequate ventilation and high temperatures and high humidity levels it can increase concentrations of some pollutants. According to the EPA, an improperly adjusted gas stove can emit significantly more carbon monoxide than one that is properly adjusted.
Poor air quality can affect children in various ways: irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes it’s a matter of removing the children from the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Symptoms of some diseases, including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and humidifier fever, may also show up soon after exposure to some indoor air pollutants.
The EPA says certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases, so it is often difficult to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to indoor air pollution. It’s important for parents to pay attention to where and when the symptoms occur in their children. If the symptoms fade or go away when the child is away from the home and return when the child returns, parents should identify indoor air sources that may be possible causes. Some effects may be due to an inadequate supply of outdoor air or from the heating, cooling, or humidity conditions prevalent in the home.
Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. Parents can improve the air quality in their homes even if there are no symptoms of air pollution.
These improvements can include eliminating or controlling the sources of pollution, increasing ventilation, and installing air cleaning devices. Often a resident can take the appropriate action to improve the indoor air quality by removing a source, altering an activity, unblocking an air supply vent, or opening a window to temporarily increase the ventilation. For additional recommendations, go to http://www.epa.gov.
