A tourist was hospitalized after suffering third-degree burns on his feet on Saturday when he lost his flip flops at a national park in California where temperatures soared past 50 C.
"He burned entirely through the skin of his feet," said Abby Wines, a management analyst at Death Valley National Park, in an email to CTVNews.ca on Friday.
The 42-year-old man from Belgium burned his feet while taking a short walk on the sand dunes at Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, Calif., on Saturday, according to a press release issued by the U.S. National Park Service on Tuesday.
While the air temperature surpassed 50 C, the sand temperature would have been much hotter at probably around 70 C, Wines said.
National Park Service (NPS) staff believe he wasn't far from the parking lot when the incident happened mid-afternoon, Wines said.
The man's family called for help and got other visitors to carry him to his car, Wines said.
Because the man spoke little English and no one knew French, Wines said park staff didn't know exactly what happened with his flip flops.
"We think – but don't know – that his flip flops broke while he was walking in the sand dunes," Wines said.
But they "determined the man needed to be transported to a hospital quickly due to his burns and pain level," read the release.
However, a medical transport helicopter wasn't able to safely land in Death Valley because of the extreme temperatures that hindered its ability to fly.
As a result, the ambulance moved the man to a higher elevation, a location cool enough for the helicopter to land safely.
The helicopter eventually transported the man to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas.
"We don't generally get updates on patients after they are transferred to a hospital, so I don't have an update on his status," Wines said on Friday.
The agency posted an extreme summer heat alert on its website Thursday, noting high temperatures of 43 C to 54 C.
It advised people to remain within a 10-minute walk of an air-conditioned vehicle, drink plenty of water, eat salty snacks, wear a hat and sunscreen, and not hike after 10 a.m. It noted cellphones do not work in most of the park.
According to Stanford Medicine, third-degree burns appear white or charred. They destroy two layers of skin, the epidermis and dermis, and may also damage bones, muscles and tendons. They result in the burned area having no sensation due to damaged nerve endings.
Earlier this month, a visitor to Death Valley died from heat exposure, the national park said in a statement. According to preliminary data, the temperature reached a high of 53 C that day.
