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A Day that was supposed to be filled with the laughter of children turned into a nightmare for Livingston Police Officer George Banzhaf. On October 3, 1999, Officer Banzhaf, who has been on the police force for 12 years, was on his way to the Policeman’s Benevolent Association picnic in Livingston. Some propane tanks needed to be filled for the event, so Officer Banzhaf completed the job and loaded them into the back of his pickup truck. Once he reached the picnic, the officer quickly realized that one of the tanks was leaking and immediately decided to remove the truck from the area. As he began to drive away, a spark from an unknown origin caused the tank to catch fire while still in the parking lot. “I heard something like the sound of a gas grill being lit,” he recalls. “The fire came through the back window and burned my head and any area that was not covered by my shirt and shorts. I felt heat all around my head and down my arms and legs. The pain was intense.” Officer Banzhaf leaped from the moving vehicle, which continued to roll before hitting a parked car. Two officers on the scene and a nurse rolled him on the ground and extinguished the flames covering his body. In a state of shock, he tried not to lose consciousness and concentrated on breathing. An ambulance arrived and the officer was immediately rushed to The Burn Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Second degree burns covered 33 percent of the officer’s body and he remained in The Burn Center for almost three weeks. It was a difficult situation for someone who is not used to inactivity and long term recovery, but Officer Banzhaf worked his way back to health with the support of The Burn Center staff. Today, Officer Banzhaf’s face bears no scars and he is training with physical therapists to rebuild the muscle tone lost during the long healing process. “I learned to slow down more,” he relates,“ and to enjoy a second chance at life. The care I received at Saint Barnabas was second to none. They were really on top of everything and I have nothing but appreciation for the doctors, nurses and burn technicians who helped me.” In addition to the care he received at Saint Barnabas, Officer Banzhaf was supported by colleagues and family members who set up a trust fund for his medical expenses through money raised from a golf outing and basketball tournament. “Everyone really came through for me,” he says. Burn Specialists Issue Concerns About Relaxed Standards for Children's Sleepwear Just over a quarter of a century ago, children’s deaths associated with house fires led the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to enact children’s sleepwear flammability standards to protect our nation’s youngsters against clothing fires. Until recently, fabric flammability standards established in the 1970s had prevented the sale of non-compliant children’s sleepwear and helped to reduce burn injuries resulting from the ignition of children’s sleepwear by 90 percent. Despite the reduction in burn injuries and deaths, the CPSC voted in a 1996 split decision to relax the children’s sleepwear flammability standard. One year later, infant and child sleep garments were no longer required to be flame retardant. The reasons cited by the CPSC for these changes included the increased use of garments other than traditional pajamas for sleeping (such as cotton T-shirts) and the desire for less expensive sleepwear alternatives through cheaper imported goods or by production by domestic manufacturers. Burn care practitioners and fire prevention educators immediately voiced their concern through statements from the American Burn Association, says Kathe Conlon, B.S.N., R.N., Community Nurse Educator for Saint Barnabas Burn Foundation. Burn educators at Saint Barnabas continue to be concerned because many parents are unaware that pajamas are no longer flame retardant. When the standards were lowered, there was very little media attention, adds Ms. Conlon, and parents may have a false sense of security. “It is sometimes difficult to document the effect of good preventative measures,” says Ms. Conlon, “We cannot show the injuries that would have occurred to children who were protected by their fire retardant sleepwear. Making garments fire retardant ensures more time for burn prevention because the clothing is less likely to ignite and slower to burn if ignition does occur.” Studies show that young children are at high risk for burn and fire injuries and that each year 1,000 children die of fires and burns. The CPSC reports that approximately 90 of those 1,000 children are burned while wearing non-compliant children’s sleepwear, such as loose-fitting night gowns; and another 300 children are burned in garments worn as sleepwear, such as loose-fitting cotton-blend T-shirts. “Since infants are incapable of removing themselves from the fire source, it makes them especially vulnerable,” relates Ms. Conlon. The Burn Center at Saint Barnabas offers the following fire prevention suggestions for parents:
To arrange a patient transfer or to consult with a treating physician, contact The Burn Center at (973) 322-5920.
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Any burn injury to a child is one too many. 
