In part one of this two-part series, the Brown Surgery podcast welcomes back Dr. Manuel Portalatin, DO, one of our Trauma/Surgical Critical Care and Burn attendings at Brown University Health. We dive deep into the initial evaluation of burn patients in the emergency department, discussing the shift from numerical degree classifications to thickness nomenclature. Dr. Portalatin breaks down the clinical importance of depth assessment for skin grafting, the nuances of burn shock pathophysiology, and critical triage protocols—including how to identify, grade, and manage inhalation injuries, carbon monoxide exposure, and cyanide toxicity before transfer to a specialized burn center.