Archie Buick was just four years old and riding his bike on his family's property at Richmond when he slipped over the side of a firepit and burnt his left leg and arm.

Archie was one of an average of 73 patients flown to major centres by the Royal Flying Doctor Services for burns every year.

That afternoon will stick in his dad, Nick Buick's, mind forever.

"He immediately screamed like I'd never heard," Mr Buick said.

"It was just a typical Saturday at home and getting towards the cooler months. It was not unusual that we'd have a bit of a campfire in the backyard.

"A neighbour was going past so, I went over to the fence to say g'day to him, and in that 10 seconds, Archie has ridden up on his pushbike and actually leant over the side of the drum, burning the left side of his leg and his left hand."

Medical treatment

After pouring cold water on the burns at home, Mr Buick and his wife were quickly on their way to the Richmond hospital.

That was at six o'clock — by nine o'clock, they were at the airport with the RFDS to fly to Townsville for treatment.

The family spent three weeks together in Townsville before Mr Buick and his older son returned home, leaving his wife and Archie in Townsville for another three weeks.

"He had surgery and skin grafts," Mr Buick said.

Now Archie is nearly five, and Mr Buick said he is just a typical kid.

"He's got a bit of an issue with a couple of scars not healing the way they had hoped.

"At the moment, he's pretty fine. He's a very resilient kid. He was probably the strongest one in the room for the first couple of days — it was quite amazing to see, actually."

RFDS burns appeal

Mr Buick said the heroes of the horror night were the RFDS staff.

"That was my first experience of physically being flown out myself," he said.

"The nurse, the doctor, the pilot, everyone on the plane that night just went so far above and beyond."

The RFDS has launched a burn appeal to raise funds for more equipment to deal with burns callouts and Mr Buick said anyone who can donate, should.

"The more equipment they've got to manage those burns in that flight, you know, there could be people that will have twice as long a flight as us," he said.

"We're only 500km from Townsville.

"The more equipment they've got, the better off the situation is going to be."

RFDS Queensland section chief executive officer Meredith Staib said stories like Archie's showed the need for more funding.

"If everyone one of our medical crews have the right equipment when they need it, they can deliver the best care possible when flying patients to specialist burns units."

The burns appeals will run until May, and the RFDS hope to raise $255,280 for specialist burns kits.