Its Burn Awareness week in Washington state.
Fire officials across the region want to enlighten you about taking preventive measures in order to avoid scald burns inside the home.
State Fire Marshal Charles Duffy says scald burns are caused by hot liquids...steam or foods.
Duffy says roughly 250-thousand people state wide are affected by scald burns annually.
Wenatchee Fire Marshall Mark Yaple says scald burns can cause serious injury and death in some cases.
Fire officials say most scald burns occur in the kitchen or bathroom and according to the Northwest Burn Foundation scald burns are the second leading cause of death amongst children.
"In the kitchen you want to rotate handles of pots in on the stove so they don't hang over the edge," said Yaple, "make sure your kids are taught not to play around the stove."
Yaple says overheating baby bottles can scald your child's mouth, "it's not recommended because they heat internally and unevenly," said Yaple, "they're also plastic which doesn't hold up well in a microwave so you have the risk of having a hot pocket of milk in there and not realize it."
State Fire Marshal Duffy says young children and oler adults have thinner skin which makes them more vulnerable to deeper burns.
Duffy says people of all ages can be burned in 30 seconds by liquid that is 130-degrees Fahrenheit...five seconds at 140-degrees and one second at 160-degrees Fahrenheit.
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