When you or someone you love is involved in an auto accident, there are a few different kinds of burn injuries that could occur. Some common causes of burn injuries in auto accidents include electrical burns, scalding burns, thermal burns and chemical burns.
How you can get these burns will depend on the type of vehicle you’re in and the vehicles involved in the collision.
Common burn injuries
There are several common burn injuries that you may experience due to a car crash. These include:
- Burns from the car catching on fire.
- Burns from coming into contact with hot metal.
- Burns from damaged electrical components.
- Burns from a hot road surface.
- Burns from hot parts of a motorcycle.
- Burns from the radiator being overheated or damaged, which releases steam.
Each of these incidents could lead to serious burns that take a long time to heal. They may require surgery or skin grafts in some cases, leading to many months or years of recovery.
What should you do if someone is burned during an auto accident?
It’s important to provide immediate medical attention when possible. Getting the person away from the hot surface, chemicals or fire is the first step. Call 911, and explain the cause of the burns to get help cooling it or reducing its spread. For example, using water to cool a thermal burn is usually fine, but you’ll want to make sure you use the right liquid to cool a chemical burn rather than making it worse.
When the emergency medical team arrives, it will take action to help with the burn injuries, but you should let the 911 operator know as much as possible to make sure they’re prepared to help.
Then, at the hospital, you or another injured party may need imaging tests, surgery or other treatments to begin recovering from the burn wounds.
These are a few things to keep in mind about burns in auto accidents. These can be life-changing wounds, so it is reasonable to look into making a personal injury claim if you or someone you know has been badly burned in a crash.