Girl's Tragedies Mount
A SAD STORY OUT OF OREGON this morning. A freak fire in a children's hospital in Portland has seriously burned a girl who was there for observation following a concussion suffered at play. Ireland Lane's T-shirt suddenly erupted into flames earlier this month while she was waiting for clearance to leave and return home to Klamath Falls. The 11-yr.-old has also been battling a rare form of kidney cancer for five years and is now in remission.
Ireland Lane – earlier photo provided
by Stephen Lane
The Oregonian reported yesterday:
(Ireland) ran screaming from her room at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, the front of her T-shirt aflame.
Now, as Ireland Lane undergoes skin grafts and burn treatment before heading home to Klamath Falls, state investigators are trying to determine how the fire happened — and whether a mix of flammable hand sanitizer and static electricity is to blame.
The girl, a cancer survivor, was at the hospital after hitting her head at school and losing consciousness. As far as the fire, says her father Stephen Lane, "She still has bad dreams, but she doesn't recall the actual incident, which from my perspective is very good."
The Oregon State Fire Marshal continues its investigation of the rare hospital fire, but early indications are that its origin lies in a very unlikely combination of factors that nevertheless could happen to anybody.
Lane had stayed in his daughter's room overnight, and was dozing. The 34-year-old disabled Navy veteran awakened as Ireland rushed from the room, but quickly caught her in the hallway and smothered the flames with his own body. She was taken to intensive care, then to Legacy Oregon Burn Center. She suffered third-degree burns from just above her belly button to her chin as well as parts of her arms and the bottom of her earlobes. Her hair also caught on fire, her father says.
A spokesman for the State Fire Marshal's office confirmed that a flammable sanitizer and a spark of static electricity are definitely part of the investigation. Just prior to the accident, the girl had cleaned off here laptop desk that she was using on her bed with some hand sanitizer. She could have generated the static spark when she moved on the bed clothes.
She is scheduled for her second skin graft tomorrow, her 12th birthday. She will have some permanent scars as a result of the fire, but otherwise is expected to make a full recovery.
The Oregonian has the full STORY HERE.
Hat tip: Mark Donovan
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