The importance of stored supplies of biological skin covers in territorial management of mass burn casualties.

This study provides supportive evidence of a possible role played by planning supplies of biological covers needed in fire disaster, based on the experience of the authors. The major steps to be taken are these: 1. Providing a technically and technologically adequate base for collection and long-term storage of cells and tissues ready for use in case of catastrophe. 2. Developing a method for estimating the amount of reserved tissue grafts. 3. Solution of logistical problems associated with providing supplies for operating theatres treating disaster casualties. 4. Organisation of national and international network of graft exchange capable of supporting local skin banks in times of need. In contrast to the situation in the 1970s and 1980s, nowadays the Czech Republic can deliver any required amount of biological covers without having to face technological difficulties. The idea of collaborating in the management of a fire disaster emerged from experience gained by the authors during the Bashkir disaster in 1989, relating particularly to an inadequate reserve stock of skin grafts and the impossibility of increasing their production. Intensified demands for the safety of grafts and recent experience from the US emphasise the need for an immediate conceptual solution concerning production of reserves of biological covers that should be ready for transportation to wherever needed. Another urgent necessity is the establishment of conditions enabling effective international collaboration at a disaster event.