Electric burns represent a unique form of thermal injury. While flame burns have obviously occurred since antiquity, commercial electrical injuries are relatively recent in origin. Prior to the introduction of commercial electricity in the later part of the nineteenth century, lightning, no doubt, was responsible for the morbidity and mortality associated with electricity.

In 1982, in the United States, lightning was responsible for approximately 250 deaths, more than by any other natural disaster. Lightning injuries account for very few admissions to burn units: there have been only seven patients, ages ranged from 11 to 35 years with a mean total body surface area (TBSA) of 12%, admitted to the Parkland Memorial Hospital (PMH) burn unit. No patient required a burn operation, and there were no deaths.

Electrical burns constitute approximately 5% of all admissions to major burn units in the United States. At the PMH burn unit, 463 patients were admitted with an acute electric burn over a 13-year period, including 75 patients whose injury was due to an electric arc and therefore no flow of electricity through the body. The other 388 patients had electricity enter and leave their body.