Terrace teen dies in hospital after freak accident
Family mourning loss of daughter who was expected to recover from injuries
A family in Terrace is grieving the sudden death of their teen daughter following a freak backyard firepit accident.
Grace Peerless, 13, and her family were enjoying a fire in their backyard the evening of May 24 when Grace’s clothing and hair suddenly caught on fire.
Her mom, Lynn, said she looked out her backyard window when she heard her daughter screaming and saw her hair on fire. She says she told her daughter to stop, drop and roll, while her son grabbed a hose to put out the flames.
Peerless said the family was burning some branches from a fallen tree in the firepit, which she described as an old washing machine mounted on a pole, 45 to 60 centimetres off the ground, making it “impossible” to fall into.
Grace was alone, she said, so no one saw the fire spread, but Peerless believes an ember may have landed on her daughter’s hair or clothing. She has used hairspray, which may have acted as an accelerant.
The girl was rushed to Mill Memorial Hospital where doctors found she had suffered burns to her face, neck, arms and chest. Doctors told Lynn that Grace had a 95 per cent chance of survival when she was transferred to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver on Friday and placed into the pediatric intensive-care unit.
Further examination showed Grace had no internal damage, but did suffer burns to about 30 per cent of her body, ranging from first- to third-degree burns. She was scheduled to undergo surgery on Saturday. Around 1 a.m. on Saturday, Grace died in hospital, according to an update posted online by her parents, Dennis and Lynn.
Doctors believe medical complications may have put Grace into cardiac arrest.
“I know that this is going to be very difficult for the young people in our community,” Lynn wrote in a Facebook post on a memorial page for Grace.
“Grace had an amazing personally and connected with people from very different backgrounds and touched many lives. These are people who may not have experienced death before. Even the experts are having trouble with her sudden death.
“Please give one another time to grieve; there is no right or wrong way to do this.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been created as a way for people to support the family during this time. A total of $4,785 had been raised as of Thursday afternoon toward the campaign’s goal of $10,000.