Problem: The scientific literature has been pointing out gaps in the knowledge of nurses on the care of burn victims. Aim: To determine the theoretical knowledge of nursing students on the initial care to burn victims in emergency units. Method: Cross-sectional study involving 107 nursing students from four higher education institutions in the Metropolitan Area of Maringá (PR), using a semi-structured questionnaire for data collection. Association was evaluated using the chi-square test, with significance level p ≤ 0.05. Results: Only 22.4% of the students had adequate knowledge. There was an association between satisfactory knowledge and belonging to a public institution (OR = 3.1, p = 0.01444), having performed nursing care in the initial treatment of burn victims (OR = 3.6, p = 0.006530), and having witnessed the initial care to burn victims (OR = 2.7, p = 0.03431). Conclusion: The lack of knowledge demonstrated by students reveals the need to rethink teaching strategies so that they promote improvements in the knowledge of these scholars.