Ken Dunn, a consultant burns injury surgeon in Manchester, UK, and the medical director of the international burn injury database (IBIDB) described the treatment needed to keep fire victims alive, aid their recovery in the longer term, and deal with the frequent complications resulting from damage to the lungs by fire effluents, combined with the secondary effects of skin burns.
He had found that around a third of fire smoke deaths were missing from the UK datasets because the fire had gone out before the victim was discovered, so that the Fire Services, who collect this information, had not been involved. He also explained that the UK was unusual in not sending physicians to the fire scene, resulting in 4 to 6 hours’ delay before specialist medical care was provided.