Man injured in Norphlet gas fire

The Norphlet Fire Department and Union County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday responded to a report of “a house on fire, and a person,” NFD Chief Wesley Harper said Monday.

“It was a little after 8 (p.m.) when we were dispatched, and the dispatcher said, ‘We have a house on fire, and a person.’ We didn’t really know exactly what we were going to see,” Harper said.

The fire at 132 Wildwood Circle broke out around 8 p.m., Harper said. The UCSO were first on the scene, and Capt. Jeff Stinson, chief investigator at the Sheriff’s office, said deputies assisted other emergency responders.

“Essentially, getting there and, number one, assessing the scene for the fire department who were responding and on the emergency medical side, being sure of what they had and what the circumstances were,” Stinson said.

Stinson said he couldn’t provide the name of the fire victim, said to be a 33 year-old Hispanic male.

By the time the NFD arrived, Harper said neighbors residing in the mobile home park had already extinguished the fire on the victim. He said he believes the fire was caused by gas cans sitting too near a burn pile.

“From all I could tell, he had a little trash pile burning and he set his gas cans down and they were too close to the fire. It looked like the grass had burned over to them, melted the gas cans and when it got there, there was a little explosion and it shot gas everywhere,” Harper said.

The victim was transported by ProMed Ambulance to Medical Center of South Arkansas, Harper said, before being airlifted to Little Rock for further treatment.

“Burns like that, it would be a flash burn, and once the gas that got on him burned off, it was out, but he had burns that I could see on his arms, legs, back and torso,” Harper said. “I don’t know how they put him out.”

NFD provided aid until ProMed arrived, Harper said.

Neighbors also helped put out most of the fire on the victim’s home with a fire extinguisher, Harper said. Firefighters took some of the siding off the home and found several hot spots they extinguished.

“We found some hot spots in the walls, got that down, then we checked the electrical circuits because we could see where some of the wires were melted. We found a breaker that was overheated, turned electricity off to the trailer and advised the owners they need to get an electrician to come and OK everything before they turned it back on,” Harper said.

Damage to the home was not extensive, Harper said.

Harper advised local residents to be cautious when burning trash.

“I’d like to say don’t even start fires at all outside, but people are going to. Try to think safety, and don’t build them so close to your house,” he said. “By all means, take your gas cans and get them well away from the fire, 50-60 feet. Don’t put your gas cans uphill from a fire, because if the gas goes to leaking, it’s going to leak back toward the fire.”