Poi accidents

im sure this has been talked about a million times. i tried the search engine but it didnt come up with much. there seems to be loads of info, pics and vids all over the net on poi spinning but not much info on the burns and accidents. obviously there are a lot of mishaps when it comes to spinning with fire. anyone got any stories?

i've got tonnes of burn scars, never done anything serious though and 99% of my marks resulted from me making a conscious decision to go for a move such as a wrap which I accept the burn risk for(get away with it most of the time- minor burn at worst). Not that I recommend this approach until you are very fire experienced, inexperience and an unexpected tangle in such moves can cause panic and serious injury.
I've seen a couple of bad burns over the years, almost always down to inexperience &/or ignoring advice. Saw a girl give herself 2nd Deg burns foolishly trying to spiral wrap when she had only just learned it, hadn't got it nailed. Another set of 2nd degree burns over someone's shoulder from wearing synthetic materials and lastly a fire eating friend who was a bit careless with the wind direction and crisped his lips badly enough he couldn't really talk and was eating soup through a straw for about 2 weeks.
as the saying goes- you play with fire, you're gonna get burned
Proper fire safety, knowledge and experience are your best protection

I have scars on my fingers from wraps, I haven't had anything bad from poi. The worst with poi was a handle caught on fire (it was dry, but a while ago had had fuel spilled on it). I thought it had evaporated away, but definitely not enough time. I let go after I realized my fire snake was on fire even on my hand I walked away with a white mark that eventually started to blister some. I kept draining it before it could get very big as I did not want to deal with a slug on my index finger. Now it's just a tiny scab that's barely there.

Other times it feels about as bad as a bee sting or something. It's not usually bad. So don't do moves you just learned with fire, don't do moves you can't get out of well, for me one would be straight jackets. And also watch out for your hair! especially if it's long, if it's just really short it'll get singed, but if it's long it could catch so either cover it or wet it. And also if your heads are freshly lit they can have enough excess fuel on them when it's Coleman's to light whatever they hit. For example you pants, for me, my crotch >.> Often your back which is the most dangerous because you most likely won't notice until it starts burning you. Of course it can also just go out depending on if the pi gods are shining upon you or not, also what material you're wearing but same thing.

One that springs to mind for me is a poi head flying off stage whilst performing, luckily it was off to the side and noone got hit. Important lesson learned.. always ALWAYS check your equipment before you light!

I have had my fire poi fly off my wood ball handle and over the group of viewers. No injury's thankfully just like burningoftheclavey I ALWAYS check my gear. Have tool in my fire gear just for the purpose of maintaining my equipment whenever I need to.

As for burns only a few little ones, and a tiny (I think) 2nd degree burn. I hadn't realized it but all the metal on top of my cathedral fire heads had been covered in fuel, so as soon as I lit up the metal was scorching hot. I had no idea it would be so hot and I did a simple wrap and it left a nice little smiley burn. I pay attention to this every time I burn now as well.

You will get better at butterflies. Just practice them and they will become so natural that you can do them until you become bored or tired and worrying about your junk constantly will be something that you'll look back with amusement. Many moves use the butterfly or that split time spinning as their base movement so that it is vital to overall ability.

The worst fire accidents I have had was
- Lighting my hair on fire briefly (pulled a windmill too soon after lighting up, when it smacked the back of my head it splashed a little fuel into my mane. Was quickly put out with very little damage to the hair.)
- Smacking myself in the face while doing a btb 3bt weave while on fire (poi had been burning for a couple of minutes so there was no splash, my pride was hurt more than my face, no burns)

While practicing I've chipped the corner of a tooth when an impact on the mouth smashed a lip piercing into my tooth. Hardly noticeable, the only reason it happened was the piercing so it's not the poi's fault! If you have any exposed piercings know for a fact that one day they will face a full on collision so take this into consideration.