Dan O'Connor
EDITOR'S PAGE
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O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4
Oxygen's Underrated Role in Surgical Fires
Of the 3 elements of the fire triangle, beware of the one you can't see.
M
ost of you
will never
experience
a surgical fire.
"Thank goodness,"
says Lauren Wargo,
27, who 7 years ago
suffered second-
degree burns on the
left side of her face
and neck when surgery to have a mole removed from her right eye-
brow ended in a flash fire. As is the case with many surgical fires (see
"Surgical Fire Q&A" on page 60), highly flammable pure oxygen was
the culprit in Ms. Wargo's fire.
When her plastic surgeon activated the electrocautery device, the
anesthesia assistant didn't adjust the oxygen level or turn off the sup-
ply of oxygen flowing into Ms. Wargo's face mask. In the presence of
oxygen, the Bovie caused a spark that caught her hair, face and drap-
ing on fire. The face mask's plastic tubing melted to her neck and
chest.
Of the 3 elements of the fire triangle — a fuel or combustible materi-
al, an ignition or heat source, and enough oxygen to support combus-
tion — it's that invisible element, pure oxygen, that does the most
damage.
"Alcohol gets much more attention because everyone knows it's
flammable, but the more important issue is oxygen and how easily it
allows things to catch fire and burn faster and hotter," says surgical
fire expert Mark E. Bruley, CCE. "Alcohol's role is overrated. Oxygen's
FLASH FIRE Lauren Wargo suffered second-degree burns on her face
and neck as a result of a surgical fire 7 years ago.
Lauren
Wargo
