Hot pavement should be a burning concern in Las Vegas summer
The so-called “5-second rule” for dropped food is not real — whatever fell still has germs from the floor, even a very good-looking slice of pizza.
Something that should be just as obvious in the desert southwest during summer months and extreme heat conditions: You can suffer second-degree burns in a matter of seconds when exposed skin touches the pavement.
Doctors at the UNLV School of Medicine recently had published a five-year study of pavement burn admissions at University Medical Center Lions Burn Care Center, according to a university news release.
For the study, researchers found 173 pavement-related burn cases between 2013 to 2017. Of those, 149 cases were isolated pavement burns.
More than 88 percent (153) of related incidents occurred when temps were 95 degrees or higher, with the risk increasing greatly as temperatures exceeded 105 degrees.
UNLV’s Dr. Jorge Vega, the study’s lead author, wrote that pavement in direct sunlight absorbs radiant energy, making a sidewalk 147 degrees on a 111-degree day.
“A 5-Year Review of Pavement Burns from a Desert Burn Center,” was published in the July/August 2019 issue of the Journal of Burn Care & Research.
Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on Twitter.