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Itsy bitsy boom!

By Mark Cox
September 4, 2010 at 11:00 am

Some things you just can’t make up. Three nights ago, a man in East Anglia went spider-hunting in his bathroom after his wife complained of an arachnid incursion. He found the wee thing lurking behind the toilet bowl and – rather uncharitably, to my mind – sprayed a shedload of aerosol at it. Then, because the bathroom light was bust and he wanted a better look, the chap leaned in closer and flicked his lighter…

Boom.

The explosion blasted the man back into his own hallway and even blew out the hatch on the loft. Not surprisingly, he suffered flash burns to his head, legs and torso.

Now, at this point I want you to stop reading for a moment and ask yourself a simple question: what would you have done next?

I only ask because it appears that our chap – not up to this point someone suspected of having overmuch common sense – did exactly the right thing. Despite being scorched and concussed and in agony, he had the presence of mind to dive straight into the shower and dowse his burns with cold water while his wife raised the alarm.

With any burn injury, it’s crucial to get cold water – or any cool liquid, for that matter – on the injured area immediately. (I recently wrote a blog about a teenager who reacted to his Dad suddenly catching fire by shaking a huge bottle of cola and spraying it all over him. And hey, it worked.)

And my favourite detail from the spider story? The bone-dry comment from the  fire service spokesman: “We’re not entirely sure whether the spider got away or not, but there was no sign of it at the scene.”

Go, spider.

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Comments (2) »

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Tags: emergency response, First aid, first aid tips, first aid training

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