Head & neck
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DuraPrep is a widely used, alcohol-based surgical prep solution. The risk of surgical fire associated with incomplete drying of this agent in the context of electrosurgical procedures has been described previously. To date, there have been no reports of fire during tracheostomy associated with a flammable prep agent before entering the airway. We describe an operating room fire occurring during awake tracheostomy associated with the use of DuraPrep. ⋯ This case illustrates that DuraPrep should be avoided in the hirsute patient, because body hair interferes with drying of this solution and increases the risk of fire.