Stop the burning. If clothing is on fire: stop, drop and roll, or smother it with a blanket or water. Get away from the heat source.
First aid · First aid course
How to treat a burn
Most burns at camp or home come from fire, hot water or hot metal. The two things that help most are simple: stop the burning, and cool the skin with cool running water. The Red Cross and the Army medical manual agree on the basics.
Why this matters
Burns are one of the most common camp and kitchen injuries. The first minutes decide how deep the damage goes, and cooling the burn is the single best thing you can do.
Some old home remedies, like butter and ice, make burns worse. Knowing what not to do matters as much as what to do.
What you need
- Clean, cool running water, or a cool wet cloth.
- Clean non-stick dressings and a loose bandage.
5 to 20 minutes of cooling, then a few minutes to dress it.
Step by step
Cool the burn with cool, clean running water for 5 to 20 minutes, or until it stops hurting. If you have no running water, use a cool, wet cloth. Lukewarm water is better than nothing.
Take off rings, watches, belts and tight clothing near the burn before it swells. Do not pull off cloth that is stuck to the skin; cut around it.
Do not put ice, butter, oil, toothpaste or grease on a burn. Ice damages the skin, and grease holds heat in.
Cover it loosely with a clean, dry, non-stick dressing. Do not use fluffy cotton or sticky bandages that pull skin off when removed. Leave blisters whole; they protect the skin underneath.
Know how deep it is. A superficialsuperficial On the surface only, not deep. Superficial frostbite affects only the skin. burn is red and painful, like a sunburn. A partial-thicknesspartial-thickness A burn that goes past the top layer of skin. It blisters, turns red and wet, and hurts a lot. burn blisters. A full-thicknessfull-thickness The deepest kind of burn, through all layers of skin. It can look white, brown or black and may not hurt because the nerves are damaged. burn can look white, brown or black and may hurt very little because the nerves are damaged. Anything deeper than superficial needs medical care.
Call 911 for burns on the face, hands, feet, joints or groin, large burns, burns from electricity or chemicals, burns on a young child or older adult, or any burn with trouble breathing.
Large burns lose a lot of body water and heat. Keep the person warm, give sips of water if they are awake, and watch for shock: pale, cold, clammy skin and a fast pulsepulse The beat of the heart you can feel in the wrist or neck. Count beats for 15 seconds and multiply by 4 for beats per minute..
Tips from survival instructors
- Take off rings and watches right away. Burned skin swells fast and can trap them.
- Keep sips of water going for anyone with a large burn; burns pull water out of the body.
Common mistakes
- Using ice. The fix: cool water, not ice.
- Putting butter, oil or toothpaste on it. The fix: nothing greasy.
- Popping blisters. The fix: leave them whole.
- Using fluffy cotton or sticky bandages. The fix: a clean non-stick dressing, loosely.
Practice it safely
Find where you would cool a burn at home and at camp. Put non-stick dressings in your kit, and practice the stop, drop and roll with kids.
Quick check
A burn is white and barely hurts. What does that mean?
- It is minor
- It may be a deep burn: get medical care
- It is healed
Show the answer
It may be a deep burn: get medical care
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