Category Archives: About Smoke Inhalation

Prevention

  • Prevention is key when discussing smoke inhalation. Numerous prevention strategies can be employed to avoid exposure to smoke.
  • Smoke detectors should be placed in every room of occupied buildings. This should ensure early detection of smoke to allow plenty of time for evacuation.
  • Carbon monoxide detectors should be placed in locations at risk for carbon monoxide exposure (such as from malfunctioning furnaces, gas water heaters, kerosene space heaters, propane heaters and stoves, gasoline or diesel generators, and boats with a gasoline engine).
  • Escape routes and plans for how to escape should be worked out prior to the onset of a fire and reviewed often.
  • Numbers for the police, fire department, and your local poison control center should be kept in a visible place in the event of an emergency.

Smoke Inhalation Symptoms

  • Numerous signs and symptoms of smoke inhalation may develop. Symptoms may include cough, shortness of breath, hoarseness, headache, and acute mental status changes.
  • Signs such as soot in the airway passages or changes in skin color may be useful in determining the degree of injury.
  • Cough
    • When the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract get irritated, they secrete more mucus.
    • Bronchospasm and increased mucus production lead to reflex coughing.
    • The mucus may be either clear or black depending on the degree of burned particles deposited in the lungs and trachea.
  • Shortness of breath
    • This may be caused by direct injury to the respiratory tract, leading to decreased oxygen delivery to the blood, the decreased

ability of blood to carry oxygen because of chemicals in smoke, or the inability of the body’s cells to use oxygen.

  • The patient may have rapid breathing as they attempt to compensate for these injuries.
  • Hoarseness or noisy breathing
    • This may be a sign that fluids are collecting in the upper airway and may cause a blockage.
    • Irritant chemicals may cause vocal cord spasm, swelling, and constriction of the upper airways.
  • Eyes: Eyes may be red and irritated by the smoke, and there may be burns on the corneas in the eyes.
  • Skin color: Skin color may range from pale to bluish to cherry red.
  • Soot
    • Soot in the nostrils or throat may give a clue as to the degree of smoke inhalation.
    • The nostrils and nasal passages may be swollen.
  • Headache
    • In all fires, people are exposed to various quantities of carbon monoxide.
    • The patient may have no respiratory problems, but may still have inhaled carbon monoxide.
    • Headache, nausea, confusion and vomiting are symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Changes in mental status
    • Chemical asphyxiants and low levels of oxygen can lead to mental status changes.
    • Confusion, fainting, seizures, and coma are all potential complications following smoke inhalation.

Smoke inhalation damages body

  • Smoke inhalation damages the body by simple asphyxiation (lack of oxygen), chemical irritation, chemical asphyxiation, or a combination of these.
  • Simple asphyxiants
    • Combustion can simply use up the oxygen near the fire and lead to death when there is no oxygen for a person to breathe.
    • Smoke itself can contain products that do not cause direct harm to a person, but they take up the space that is needed for oxygen. Carbon dioxide acts in this way.
  • Irritant compounds
    • Combustion can result in the formation of chemicals that cause direct injury when they contact the skin and mucous membranes.
    • These substances disrupt the normal lining of the respiratory tract. This disruption can potentially cause swelling, airway collapse, and respiratory distress.
    • Examples of chemical irritants found in smoke include sulfur dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen chloride, and chlorine.
  • Chemical asphyxiants
    • A fire can produce compounds that do damage by interfering with the body’s oxygen use at a cellular level.
    • Carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and hydrogen sulfide are all examples of chemicals produced in fires that interfere with the use of oxygen by the cell during the production of energy.
    • If either the delivery of oxygen or the use of oxygen is inhibited, cells will die.
    • Carbon monoxide poisoning has been found to be the leading cause of death in smoke inhalation.
  • Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 4/8/2014
  • Medical Author: Christopher P Holstege, MD

Smoke Inhalation Overview

50-80% of Deaths related to Fire are due to smoke inhalation…

  • The number one cause of death related to fires is smoke inhalation. An estimated 50%-80% of fire deaths are the result of smoke inhalation injuries rather than burns.
  • Smoke inhalation occurs when you breathe in the products of combustion during a fire. Combustion results from the rapid breakdown of a substance by heat (more commonly called burning). Smoke is a mixture of heated particles and gases. It is impossible to predict the exact composition of smoke produced by a fire. The products being burned, the temperature of the fire, and the amount of oxygen available to the fire all make a difference in the type of smoke produced.
  • Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 4/8/2014
  • Medical Author: Christopher P Holstege, MD