my neighbor caught himself on fire :(

[vash]

old guy. tough as nails. he is pretty much the only elderly person that doesnt ask me or accept my help. he still does his yard work and auto repairs. flat out manly stuff. senile. he knows me as the kid that bought his daughter's house. i get re-introduced to him almost weekly.


today he was tending to his fireplace. his robe caught fire, and engulfed him. luckily one of my neighbors kids was out and saw the flames. the old guy's wife, pounced and they got him extinguished. he had layers of stuff on, but the damage was done. major burns on his lower half. emergency staff showed up fast. a huge helicopter landed in a field by my house and whisked him off.

it's bad guys.

[Jim Bremner]

Prayers for recovery.

[futuresoptions]

Prayers sent...

[BRPORSCHE]

Oh jeez I hate reading this.

Prayers sent Vash. Try to get some sleep.

[aigel]

Drop and roll? That's sad. One shouldn't have to burn up like that ...

Somehow I think you must have moved out of the city for squirrels and helicopters to have room in your yard. Didn't you live in SF before?

Cheers,

George

[stomachmonkey]

Sounds like my old neighbor in NY.

Tough old bastard.

They are made form different stuff.

Hope he recovers.

[pwd72s]

Man...that's gotta hurt. Hoping for the best...

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by aigel

Drop and roll? That's sad. One shouldn't have to burn up like that ...

Somehow I think you must have moved out of the city for squirrels and helicopters to have room in your yard. Didn't you live in SF before?

Cheers,

George

At his age, a drop could be a broken hip

Prayers sent..

[crustychief]

That sucks, I hope he recovers fully.

[bivenator]

Really sad to read that, I think you have posted about the old guy before.

[azasadny]

Very sad. We moved my grandfather in with us before that could happen. He lived independently for all but 4 months of his life. My wife cooked every meal for him for the last 5 years and drove him everywhere because he couldn't drive or be trusted in the kitchen. He eventually fell a broke his hip. Tough man...

[84CAB]

Said a prayer for him. He has a tough time ahead, usually it's not the burns that cause the biggest issue; it's scondary stuff like infection and organ failure. Youth is a big advantage also..... I speak from personal experience

[widgeon13]

Nothing worse than burns, hope he makes a full recovery.

[pavulon]

advanced age + bad and/or extensive burn injuries+potential for infection=fluids in the wrong places and cardiac stress (pain...). not good.

[fastfredracing]

Nothing worse than burns, I just met a local guy, real good guy, serious gear head. He had knocked over a 5 gallon can of laquer thinner in his body shop. He nearly had it all cleaned up when his hot water heater kicked on, and lit the place. 3rd degree burns on most of his body, he was telling me about some of the gruesome details. When they cut his jeans off, the skin on his legs came off with the fabric. Never get lax on shop safety. Immediately after talking to him, I moved all of my paints, thinners, and chemicals to a safer spot in the shop. Well wishing to your neighbor, hope his was not as serious and he makes a good recovery, at 80 years old , this could be a tough one.

[Rikao4]

BTDT..and thankfully one forgets the pain..
spent a few months in BAMC..the Army burn unit..
remember barricading my door..
2X daily into the debridment tanks..
and nothing would touch the pain..
folks working there are incredible..
like others have said..
if the burn don't kill you..
you find yourself wishing it had..

Rika

[sammyg2]

I'm a trained firefighter (even though I don't do it for a living) and I've seen folks on fire before, it's ugly. No way to describe it other than ugly.

But that thing about stop drop and roll doesn't put the fire out.
It's better than running because it doesn't fan the flames. It's better than standing still because the flames tend to rise and standing vertically increases the exposure.

But stop, drop, and roll will not put the fire out (unless it's really small) or even decrease it's intensity, it'll just reduce the rate at which it increases and reduce the exposure slightly. Iffn you're on fire you're fuched.

[Rikao4]

did the drop & roll..
don't really remember why I did....
guess I saw it on TV..
explosion blasted me acoss the street into a parking lot..
1st person I encountered..
informed me that my nose was bleeding..
laying on the ER table in shock..
I jokenly informed the priest..
I'm not ready..& then it was lights out for few days..

Rika