During fires, burn centers prepared for a crisis that never came

When fires broke out on January 7, burning centers across the Los Angeles region prepared for an influx of patients, updating themselves on the beds and staff available for seriously injured.

The fires of Eaton and Palisades would finally make at least 29 lives. Dozens of people would visit hospitals to request care for minor burns or smoke inhalation.

Fortunately, the burning specialists in mass victims feared and prepared not to materialize. The vast majority of injuries were minor enough for patients to be treated and quickly released.

“Our forest fire experience seems to have been somewhat binary,” said Dr Vimal MurthyA specialist in burning surgery at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, one of the three main burns centers in the region. “People (either) have managed to evacuate with relatively few injuries, or they died in their properties.”

Dozens of people have visited the region’s emergency rooms in search of care for minor burns and smoke -related injuries. Almost all were treated and released.

Five people have suffered burns serious enough to deserve hospitalization. Four patients were treated for severe burns at the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills, said medical director Peter H. Grossman. Another was placed in critical condition for serious burns in Los Angeles General Medical Center.

January 25, victim of the fire of the Palisades deceased in a hospitalAccording to the office of the County Legalist. The office has not yet disclosed the identity of the person or the hospital where it died.

Tragic as the losses of the region, Burn specialists feared an even more serious result in the first 24 24 hours of fires.

“I was extremely worried that we saw many more patients than we really did,” said Dr. Justin Gillenwater, chief of burns surgery at Southern California Régional Burn Center at the General, citing the rapid spread of the fire of fires and congested escape.

“It's a double -edged sword,” said Grossman. “It's tragic – the houses have lost, memories have lost – but it is also incredible to see how human life and human mortality and morbidity could have been much worse.”

Dr. Peter H. Grossman, medical director of the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills, is addressed to the media on May 7, 2009.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Doctors and disaster management experts have awarded the low injury rate to people who take into account early evacuation warnings – when they have been received. The 17 deaths in the Eaton fire took place west of Avenue Lake d'Altadena, an area that did not receive emergency evacuation orders Until the first hours of January 8, when smoke and flames were already encroached in the neighborhood.

In addition, intense heat, rapid spread and unpredictable behavior of forest fires generally leave “few possibilities of partial injury,” said Annette Newman, Coordinator of the Western region for the American Burn Assn.

“Unlike house fires, where individuals could suffer from serious burns but always be saved, forest victims seem to experience a complete escape or deadly results due to the intensity and speed of the fire,” said Newman.

Although many elements of the fires of last month seem to have taken Los Angeles off guard, his Burn Care specialists were ready.

In November, the Burn Centers of Los Angeles joined 25 others in 13 Western states for an exercise organized by the Los Angeles County Healthcare Coalition.

In the simulated scenario, a fictitious freight train carrying dangerous materials through a crowded area derailed in an ardent explosion, burning or injuring 800 people otherwise.

The exercise tests the preparation of hospitals for mass events. The providers played what to do in a situation where all the local beds of the burning center were full, and patients had to be transported to other non -specialized traumatology and hospitals. They practiced using the Burn Watch BoardA dashboard created by the Nevada Hospital Assn. This provides live updates to the availability of the hospital bed for burned patients.

This type of planning in advance is necessary, “said Newman, as” burning injuries require highly specialized care and burning beds are limited “.

Pain management and infections control require constant vigilance. Patients swell when fluids flee blood vessels and gather around damaged tissues; They lose the ability to keep warm and control their body temperature. They need specialized nutrition, physiotherapy and psychological care, often for weeks or months after the initial injury.

The Western region put its burning disaster plans in action on December 31, when a massive explosion of illegal fireworks In Honolulu, Honolulu killed six people and injured more than 20.

This disaster has highlighted the need for doctors to be able to download data from the dashboard from their phones, said Newman. The functionality was added just a few days before the burst of the palisades fire.

“There are very few types of injuries that are as painful as burning injuries,” said Grossman. “It is really remarkable that in front of all this … it could have been much worse.”