Fire walking in Singapore: a profile of the burn patient

Fire walking is a religious ritual practised mainly by Indians, but also by some Chinese, living in Singapore. Seventeen new cases of burns sustained after a fire walking ceremony are reported. All the patients were males. One patient was Catholic, the others being Hindus. All the patients were Indians. The mean age of the patients was 25.47 years (range 19-56 years). All the patients had burns on the feet only. Of the 17 patients, 15 had burns on the non-weight-bearing area of the foot, one had burns on the weight-bearing area of the foot and one had burns on both the weight-bearing and the non-weight-bearing areas of the foot. The mean percentage of total body surface area affected was 0.81% (range 0.25-1.25%). The burn injuries were either erythema or partial thickness burns. The mean duration of disability was 21.4 days (range 14-35 days). Of those burnt, three were novices, six had walked twice and the remaining eight had walked three to 16 times. The profile of a fire walker is generally a young Indian with partial thickness injuries on one or both feet involving the non-weight-bearing area.