Revelation: Gas Burns!

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-09-10 07:39am

(Update, Barry County, September 8, 2004, 7:52 p.m.) A mother, her one-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were critically injured after a mobile home in Barry County exploded.

It happened just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Merlino's Hidden Valley Estates on Barber Road just off M-43 north of Hastings.

The family had moved into the mobile home just three days ago.

Officials say the trailer park manager had a stove installed in the home, but it wasn't hooked up properly and was leaking gas. The manager told 24 Hour News 8 that he wanted the woman to stay out until it was fixed. The manager went to go shut the propane tank off, and that's when the woman lit a cigarette and the trailer exploded.

The fire burned so hot, so quick there was little anyone could do. But that didn't stop one teenage neighbor from trying.

Neighbors say they heard a pop, saw flames and heard a mother's agonizing cry for help. "'Get my baby, go get my baby,'...and I ran in there and got the one," Terry Miller, a neighbor, told 24 Hour News 8, describing how he rescued one of the children. Unable to locate the other child, 15-year-old Miller went back into the burning home. "She said it's in the crib, so I ran in there and got that one."

Minutes later, the home was reduced to a smoldering pile. "The trailer was probably 75 percent gone when we pulled onto the scene," said Hastings Fire Chief Roger Caris.

Miller says he did think about how he could get hurt while rescuing the children. When asked what made him keep going back into the burning structure, "The kids," he answered.

Neighbors identified the victims as 21-year-old Tasha Howard, her four-year-old daughter Rachel and one-year-old son Bradley. Tasha has second and third degree burns on 55 percent of her body, Bradley has second and third degree burns on 90 percent of his body, and Rachel has second and third degree burns on 40 percent of her body.

Tasha Howard's father contacted 24 Hour News 8 to say there are conflicting reports as to why his daughter and grandchildren were still in the home at the time of the explosion. 24 Hour News 8 asked Chief Caris about that topic. He says he won't close this case until he can talk to Tasha and get both sides of the story.

Tasha's father also says Tasha and her son are in very critical condition, while her daughter is doing better, sitting up and even talking a little bit.

Meantime, neighbors in the trailer park are dealing with the shock by doing what they can to help the Howards. Kids have put together collection cans raising money for the victims. But the help by one of those neighbors at the time of the fire may have saved two young lives.

.....

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-09-10 08:19am

while the mother may be trash, that kid is a damned hero for running into a burning trailer twice to save the children.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-09-10 09:38am

Col. Crackpot wrote:while the mother may be trash, that kid is a damned hero for running into a burning trailer twice to save the children.

Absolutely agree. We need more people like that in this world.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-09-10 10:18am

I do not expect the son to make it. 90% burns has a low survival rate.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-09-10 12:00pm

LadyTevar wrote:I do not expect the son to make it. 90% burns has a low survival rate.

you'd be suprised. We had that terrible nightclub fire a year or so ago and out of 200 burn victims (100 of which were horribly maimed) that made it to the hospitals, only 2 succumbed to injuries.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-09-10 12:48pm

Scarred horribly for life, though. Why would that idiot light a cigarette in a confined area after being told that there's a gas leak? It boggles the mind to think that people of such stupidity exist in this world.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-09-10 01:19pm

Darth Wong wrote:Scarred horribly for life, though. Why would that idiot light a cigarette in a confined area after being told that there's a gas leak? It boggles the mind to think that people of such stupidity exist in this world.

Truly. She may have just ruined three peoples' lives and may have killed someone. I hope they prosecute her.

However, the teen in this story is a hero of unbelievable proportions. Not only did he run in to get the first person, but he went BACK in and even had the presence of mind to listen to the woman and find out where the other kid was.

Post by **Kuja** » 2004-09-10 01:37pm

Intelligent and courageous.

I'll raise a drink to this kid.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2004-09-10 03:56pm

It kinda just makes me wonder if that sort of thing is hard wired into us, I mean runing in for the kids. You hear about stories like this a lot, people will go to insane lengths and place themselves in great danger for the life of children who may or may not live. Its enough of a recurring theme that I really do wonder if we aren't hard wired to protect any human offspring.

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2004-09-10 05:32pm

Why wasn't the MOTHER racing back in for her kids? So much for maternal instinct. Of course she's 21 with a 4-year-old which means she was stupid enough to get knocked up in high school.

I agree though that the teenager is a hero and HE should get at least part of the collection taken up by the neighbors.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2004-09-10 05:38pm

Darth Servo wrote:Why wasn't the MOTHER racing back in for her kids? So much for maternal instinct.

Her being critically injured might have had something to do with it...

Of course she's 21 with a 4-year-old which means she was stupid enough to get knocked up in high school.

She lit a cigarette in the vicinity of a known gas leak. Stupid doesn't begin to cover it.

I agree though that the teenager is a hero and HE should get at least part of the collection taken up by the neighbors.

Absolutely.