A man suffered fourth degree burns on his foot after he stepped on “scorching” sand where a disposable barbecue had been used.
Danny Howard, 33, a self-employed plasterer, went to Barmouth Beach in Gwynedd, north Wales, with his family on the Sunday of the bank holiday weekend.
They used two disposable barbecues to cook burgers, sausages and hotdogs.
Then disaster struck when Mr Howard stood on the hot sand and felt what he called “the most excruciating pain” of his life, adding that the heat “melted” his skin, according to Wales Online.
After the injury he drove two hours to a hospital in Chester where he received morphine to soften the pain.
He was discharged and now nurses his wounded food at home.
His injury follows a similar case from last week when nine-year-old Will Tyler, from Stockport, needed a skin graft after stepping where a disposable barbecue had been.
Recalling the agonising pain, Mr Howard said: “On a scale of one to ten, I’d put it at 25.”
Though the barbecue trays - which had been burning for about 45 minutes - were cold by the time Danny moved them, he said that all of the heat of the coal had been transferred to the sand.
“Sand is just like glass at the end of the day, so it’s just going to absorb all of the heat”, he said.
“I don’t know how far that heat will travel down into the sand, but it’s quite a good insulator and it was a really hot day as well, so there was probably no escape for the heat.”
The top layer of sand was cooler but as his foot sank in deeper he felt the heat.
“I’ve got second, third and fourth degree burns all around the bottom of my foot”, he said.
A large blister formed on his foot and he had to grit his teeth and walk in socks back to their car.
Mr Howard claims he used his big toe on the pedals to drive his van to the hospital.
When he arrived in Chester A&E, doctors cut away the thick blister that had formed and found that the hot sand had seared through two layers of his skin.
He was bandaged up and given painkillers, but said these did little to stop the pain that almost brought him to tears.
“I had to go back the next day because the pain was excruciating”, he said “They re-bandaged it and there was thickening, forming a hole in the centre. Thickening is what they call a fourth degree burn.”
He was transferred to a burns specialist centre in Whiston on Friday where he received morphine and strong anti-inflammatories.
Mr Howard is now waiting for the foot to heal at home while he takes painkillers. This could take six to 12 weeks.
He is unable to walk but manages to hop and crawl for two or three hours after medication.
Mr Howard paid tribute to his wife, who has been taking care of him and looking after their children while he is at home not working.
He said people should be more aware of the dangers of standing where a portable barbecue has been.
“I’ve got an 18-month-year-old, a four-year-old, a five-year-old and I thought if one of them had touched it it would have just obliterated their feet,” he said.
“It’s not something you consider a risk. You think the children are more at risk from falling onto it and stepping onto it - that’s what you tend to look out for. I think these barbecues should have a warning to take more care and precautions on sandy areas,” he said.
He also said it is impossible to tell where a barbecue has been and said barbecue kits should come with a flag so people can mark where they have been used.
“They need to leave signs for people, saying ‘Please be aware, there’s a barbecue that has been here in the last hour’, or flags you can put in the sand that say ‘hotspot’ or something.”
