Burns awareness advocate urges for greater discussion on the dangers of Bonfire Night

With Bonfire Night just around the corner, many are calling for greater awareness of the dangers of the event.

Burns Awareness Day occurred earlier this month on 16 October to raise awareness of the dangers of burns and the consequences that many people have to live with after getting burnt.

But does more need to be done all year round to educate people on the dangers of burns particularly in the run up to Bonfire Night?

Every year around 1,000 people visit A&E for firework related injuries in the month around Bonfire Night and over half of these are children.

Child burns survivor and burns awareness advocate Sylvia Mac believes more needs to be done to protect the public on this festive occasion.

“I’d like to really push on just having fireworks at events and not being sold in shops anymore whether it’s to an adult or not I don’t believe that we should be handling things like this.”

Mac, who launched her charity LoveDisfigure that helps burns survivors learn to live with their scars and love their bodies, believes there isn’t enough awareness of the many ways people can get burnt.

The burns awareness advocate wants to see councils get involved in the campaign to get more people talking about the dangers of burns and firework night. “Education in schools is really important.”

Mac urges that this subject needs to be talked about before Firework Night rolls around.