As the summer temperatures rise, you may be looking for ways to beat the heat.
But you may not realize that a favorite childhood pastime can be a dangerous one, ending with a visit to the emergency room.
It's a normal part of growing up, playing in the hose during the hot summer, but since a two-year-old picture of a burned child went viral on social media, it has people taking extra precautions.
The picture is of a child from Arizona scalded by hot water from a garden hose left sitting out in the sun. There were second degree burns over a third of his body.
Corian Shoulder, who was playing with his children at a City Park playground, had never heard of the danger.
"I never, but it makes sense. It really does," citing how if the slides on the playground can get real hot, so can the water in a hose.
"We see things, from patients being burned from hot water, from hoses and also scalds from cooking, very commonly in children,” said Dr. Jeffrey Carter, a Burn Surgeon at LSUHSC and the Medical Director of the Burn Center at UMC. “Seventy percent of pediatric burns are actually scald injuries."
Dr. Carter showed us just how fast hot water can scald, causing third degree burns.
At 120 degrees it takes five minutes to scald, at 155 degrees only one second. It's even worse in young children because their skin in thinner.
"The temperature in the hose can exceed 140 degrees, and in a child, that can cause a severe burn in just seconds," he said.
Of the more than 100 patients who have come into the Burn Center at UMC in just two months, none have been burned from a hose, but Dr. Carter has treated this type of injury in other cities.
"All of them have healed without surgery, which is the good part, but the ones who have been exposed to it were typically innocent. They were playing in the yard. Someone turned on the hose, not appreciating there was 100 feet of hose laying out in the sun," Dr. Carter said.
A mom with her children on the City Park playground now has a whole new perspective after finding out about the dangers.
"I know to let the water run first and let them get in it afterwards, after I feel it," said Dominique Crossgrow.
The child in the picture from Las Vegas made a full recovery, but in all these types of scalding cases, continuous medical care is needed until it heals.
In some children, the skin will regenerate on its own without surgery.
The doctor says outdoor showers can heat up as well, so always test the water before a child or mentally disabled person gets under it.
Hot water heaters are usually set too high. Turn them down from 120 to 100 degrees.
The new burn center has already treated patients who were scalded from coffee. It is usually served from 180-to-190 degrees, much higher than 120 degrees that is enough to burn the skin.