Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘fire’

Close to 2,500 pull toys with wooden parts that can break or become dislodged and pose a choking hazard to a child were recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission this week.  These toys manufactured by the Manhattan Group have been sold nationwide in gift and specialty shops as well as online and in catalogues.    

 Approximately 14,000 umbrella strollers that might amputate a child’s fingertips as they’re unfolded were also recalled. While there have been no known related incidents reported in either case, there have been reports of injuries related to children’s lamps and wind chime toys recalled this past week.

The childrens’ lamps involved in the CPSC recall are  360,000 Discovery Kids Animated Marine and Safari Kids lamps with defects in the printed circuit board which could cause an electrical short, posing a fire and burn hazard to children.  There have been 9 incidents reported including lamps catching on fire, smoke inhalation injury to a child and minor property damage. 

The decorative lamps are silver colored and have rotating films with marine or safari scenes. “Discovery Kids” is printed on the front top left corner. Consumers have been instructed to immediately stop using the lamps and contact the company, Innovage,  for a ful refund.

 The best recalls are those where an awareness to a potential hazard is realized before any child has been injured. 

Reading a recent article in the St. Petersburg Times about a 7 year old child who was playing with a lighter setting off a house fire which took firefighters 15 mintues to contain, reminds us all of the need to educate our children about the dangers of  playing with fire.

Child fire safety education is important early in a child’s life. Playing with fire at a early age can lead to fires, burns, and severe scarring which can permanently injury a child for life.

A wonderful website for fire safety for children can be found at Kids Health. This website offers great safety tips on how you can educate your child while making sure your home is safe.  Adult supervision and education are important to  preventing a fire such as the one in the link listed above.

Additional safety information is available on our Florida Child Injury Lawyer website in the document library. Click here for a resource entitled  ”Fire Safety 101.”

In a horrific event in Valrico, a man tried to light his girlfriend’s son on fire by pooring gasoline on the child.  The man, Christopher A. Koberstine was jailed late Sunday with a felony aggravated assault charge. An arrest affidavit states he threw the gasoline on the victim during an argument at about 11:30 p.m.  Prosecutors reminded Judge Gregory Holder that there has been a string of these types of accidents recently.

Stay in touch for updates on this horrific act.