Kingsburg once again proved to be a community of generous givers, raising $2,913 during last Wednesday's Fill the Helmet event to benefit Community Regional Burn Center.

Last year, the first year Kingsburg participated in the event, local firefighters raised $1,200, so it's an impressive feat to have more than doubled that amount in the second year. Nine local firefighters stood at the corner of Marion and Draper Streets collecting donations from motorists passing through town from 6:30 a.m. until noon, and it was time well spent to raise money for a good cause.

Communities from around the Valley participated, raising a grand total of $142,066.

Fire Chief Jim Proctor said the Kingsburg Fire Department feels that "it's important to support the local burn center. It's important to us to have one here, and if we didn't support them, they would move elsewhere."

Located within University Medical Center in Fresno, Community Regional Burn Center is the only round-the-clock, fully staffed burn center between Los Angeles and Sacramento. Last year, they performed more than 9,300 burn therapy procedures, with nearly half of those treated being children.

Sandra Yovino, RN, nurse manager of the burn center, said that Fill the Helmet is an important event for the Valley because "it allows us to bring awareness to burn injuries which helps lead to burn prevention."

Yovino said that as a thank you for all those who donated, volunteers handed out flyers with tips for preventing scald burn injuries. They handed out 40,000 flyers before they ran out.

Scalds are the most common type of burn-related injury among children. In 2005, 41% of those treated at Community Regional Medical Center on an outpatient basis suffered from scald injuries. The majority of those treated for scalds were children between the ages of one and five.

Yovino said one of the leading causes of scald burns is hot water heaters that are set too hot, and recommends that parents of young children make sure that hot water heaters do not exceed 120 degrees.

Kitchens can be a danger zone for children as well, so parents should turn handles of pots away from the reach of little hands, and make sure cords on electric skillets are never left hanging within reach .

Scald burns can easily happen if a toddler gets underfoot in the kitchen when someone is carrying a hot pan across the room.

Yovino said that while many burn accidents can be prevented, the Valley is lucky to be home to a facility that provides a whole spectrum of burn treatments, from wound management to physical andemotional rehabilitation during the recovery process.

By April of next year, Community Regional Burn Center will relocate to its new home in the Leon S. Peters Burn Center on the Community Regional Medical Center campus in downtown Fresno, offering state-of-the-art facilities for burn patients.

"Thanks to those who contributed to Fill the Helmet, we will continue to provide top-notch burn care in an amazing new facility," Yovino said. "The dollars collected in Kingsburg will be put to use for years to come, so people can feel good about that."

By Amy D. Fienen

RECORDER STAFF WRITER