As people prepare to gather around the Valley for Christmas, doctors at the Arizona Burn Center want you to know grease fires are on the rise during the holidays. So far, this year, surgeons have treated hundreds of people who were badly burned.
Four days away from Christmas and Arizona Cardinal Antonio Hamilton is telling ABC15 he's feeling great.
"As far as where I could potentially have blistering where you kind of get water bubbles. I am past that stage. I have been past that stage, now, for maybe a month,” said Hamilton.
The second-season Cardinal shared pictures with ABC15, showing his burns, suffered in a late-August grease fire.
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Hamilton was at home with his wife and three kids preparing to cook shrimp.
"I guess, or I don't since the pot was so new, or whatever the case may be. But, the inside of the pot caught on fire,” added Hamilton.
He recalls covering the pot with a glass lid, but the lid not working. So, he panicked and jumped into dad mode by trying to run the pot outside.
"When I moved it, the grease moved in the pot and made the flames shift. The flames caught part of my face. When that happened, I dropped it and let it go,” added Hamilton.
Surgeons at the Arizona Burn Center treated the Cardinal for second-degree burns.
"It's almost like someone just peeled back your skin. Like, the top layer of your skin and some of the second part,” added Hamilton.
Nearly four months later, the burn center is reminding people in the Valley the number of grease fires tends to go up during the holiday season.
"Because people spending more time in the kitchen, we see a much larger number of patients coming in with that mechanism of injury,” said Dr. Lou Ferrari.
Dr. Ferrari, a burn surgeon, tells ABC15 he and his peers have treated more than 300 people for grease burns this year.
Those injuries, he says, forced surgeons to admit 51 burn victims including seven children.
"The sooner you get to a burn center and allow us to breathe and dress the wounds, appropriately, and get you into our care system, the better outcome you're going to have,” added Dr. Ferrari.
The burn surgeon says 60% of those burn victims required surgery.
The best prevention, Dr. Ferrari says, includes bringing up oil or grease temperatures slowly, adding food into the oil or grease carefully, and keeping the cookware stable and away from the edges of the stove or counter.
