Mum’s campfire plea after son burns feet on covered smouldering pit at remote Broome beach

A mother has pleaded with beachgoers in the Kimberley to ensure their fires are extinguished and covered over after her eight-year-old son suffered severe burns to his feet and had to be flown to Perth for surgery. ***CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW*** Jo Rogers and her family were enjoying a Broome getaway four-wheel-driving up Cape Leveque when they stopped for lunch at Willie Creek on July 11. While the adults prepared lunch, the eight kids in the convoy of 14 were playing on the beach when Liam Rogers saw some grey sand — a smouldering fire which had been covered in sand instead of extinguished with water — and stepped on it, severely burning the bottoms of his feet. About an hour away from Broome Hospital, Ms Rogers had to cut open their emergency tank of water and stick Liam’s feet in before rushing along the corrugated road back to Broome. Liam was taken through to emergency where debridement — the removal of the burnt skin tissue — was carried out. He was monitored for two days before the decision was made to use the Royal Flying Doctor Service to take him to Perth for surgery. Luckily, once he was in Perth Liam benefited from the revolutionary “spray-on skin” technology developed by Perth-based plastic surgeon Fiona Wood, which meant a speedy recovery and Liam could walk within a week. Ms Rogers said she was extremely thankful for the treatment Liam had received at Broome Hospital, while on the RFDS plane, and at Perth Children’s Hospital, but said it annoyed her how easily the traumatic situation could have been avoided. “The fire was only about 20m from the ocean — it would’ve been so easy for whoever had this fire to properly extinguish it,” she said. “Just bring a bloody bucket so you can get water. “Staff at Broome Hospital and at PCH said they see cases like this all the time and it’s completely avoidable if people take the time to put the fire out correctly.” Ms Rogers said while she was driving Liam back to Broome, she feared the worst. “We’re so lucky to have the healthcare we did, but when it was happening I really was scared what would happen,” she said. “Liam was in so much pain, we had him biting down on my cardigan the whole journey back.” The lighting of fires on Broome beaches is illegal, unless a permit is granted by the Shire of Broome. KidSafe chief executive Scott Phillips said about 500 children a year were taken to Perth hospital emergency departments with burns, and half of those admitted were under five. “We know that DFES say don’t use sand to put out fires because they can continue to smoulder for a long time, and people can walk straight through it and not know it’s there,” he said. “So to put a fire out, it has to be done with water.” Anyone dealing with a burn should remove anything from the burn that isn’t stuck to it, then apply cool running water to the burn for 20 minutes.