A NEW survey by Safety Group UK showed that over half of UK adults (51.7%) plan to host or attend barbecues this summer.

A Harlow resident shares his story of the serious burns he incurred at a family barbecue.

Case Study: Alfie Preater – Harlow,

“I was only four when it happened, but I still remember little bits of it, and my parents have filled in the rest.

It was a normal day, and the BBQ had just finished. I must have wandered over to where the lid had been placed on the ground. Although I was warned to watch out for it, at four, I didn’t listen. I stepped on it with one foot, and the bottom of my foot burned instantly.

I screamed, and my parents ran over straight away. They put my foot under cold water right away and rushed me to A&E. At the hospital, they gave me something for the pain and iced my foot for quite a long time before they put special burn cream on it. Then they wrapped it in a plastic bag to keep it clean and protected.

After a while, the burn blistered, and they had to cut away the skin around it. The doctors said I might need a skin graft, which really scared my parents, but luckily, I didn’t need one.

Now, years later, my foot is fine. It sometimes feels a bit tender, but it doesn’t hurt. I’ve had no ongoing problems.

Even though I was really young, it’s something that stuck with me, and I know my parents never forgot it either. It just shows how quickly something can happen when you’re not expecting it. The BBQ was over, the fire was out, but the danger was still there.”

Despite this, the emergency services responded to a Freedom of Information request to reveal that there have been 3,983 BBQ-related fires, 309 hospital admissions for barbecue injuries, issued 67 fines, had 160 ambulance call outs and handled 1,949 police incidents in the last three years.

The data shows that for every 100 emergency service responses to BBQ incidents, less than two result in enforcement action.

Key Findings

6,451 total emergency service responses to BBQ incidents since 2022, but only 102 enforcement actions taken

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service leads the list with 627 BBQ fires, London Fire Brigade follows with 332 and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has 277

Over half of UK adults (51.7%) plan to host or attend BBQs this summer, based on new poll

Seventy-Eight people were injured or killed in BBQ-related fires across the UK

Brighton and Hove City Council issued more fines than all other councils combined, 37 of the 67 total fines recorded

Cambridgeshire Constabulary recorded the highest number of BBQ-related incidents with 493 cases but zero arrests