International journal of emergency medicine
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Burns occur disproportionately within low-socioeconomic populations. The Western Cape Province of South Africa represents a middle-income setting with a high rate of burns, few specialists and few burn centres, yet a well-developed pre-hospital system. This paper describes the burn cases from a viewpoint of operational factors important to pre-hospital emergency medical services. ⋯ Burns make up a small portion of the EMS caseload. More burns occurred in areas far from urban hospitals and burn centres. The majority of burn cases met the burn centre referral criteria.