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A mother’s warning about the dangers of gas fireplaces
The nightmare moment three years ago is still seared into my mind.
While standing on a chair, my then five-year-old daughter reached for something on the fireplace mantle and lost her balance. I was just about to tell her to get down, when Mia fell – with her hands landing flat against the hot glass of our gas fireplace.
I quickly plunged Mia’s hands into cold water, where she had to keep them all the way to the hospital. She was obviously in extreme pain. At SickKids, Mia was given intravenous painkillers and anti-nausea medication. The blisters covered her palms and fingers, particularly on her right hand.
Months of treatment and dressings followed. Fortunately, Mia’s hands eventually healed. There was no nerve damage and she didn’t need skin grafts. But recovering from the nightmare of the trauma took a lot longer.
I was always so careful and safety conscious. Our hot water heater was turned down to prevent scalds or burns. I was careful about when to transfer her to a forward-facing car seat, we had baby gates all over the house. I felt stupid that I had overlooked such an extreme danger. The feeling I had as a mom was extreme guilt for not having protected her better.
These days I don’t even like to look at our fireplace and when we visit others, I make a point of telling them about the dangers of gas fireplaces to small children.
I’ve also been lobbying for safety standards for gas fireplaces and working on the development, sale and use of appropriate fireplace guards.
Noreen, Toronto mother of three.
