Where’s there’s Smoke, there’s Fire: Emergency Treatment of House-Fire Victims

The emergency clinician is frequently called upon to treat burn wounds secondary to thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation injury. Most burn wounds seen in veterinary medicine are relatively minor, possibly because animals with severe burns and smoke inhalation are less likely to be rescued from the scene of a house fire. However, life threatening burns and inhalation injury are being seen with increasing frequency and the emergency clinician should therefore be familiar with their pathophysiology and management.