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April 8, 2008


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NEWS

McKenzie Woman Sustains Burns in Brushfire Mishap at Home

By Linda Bolton
linda@mckenziebanner.com

A McKenzie woman sustained serious burns Wednesday afternoon while attempting to burn a brush pile at her home on Webb Road.

Pamela Castleman, speaking from her hospital room at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville Monday, stated she was attempting to burn a brush pile, that resulted from a tree being cut in their back yard, when the mishap occurred.

“The fire jumped and caught my pants leg on fire,” said Pam, who said she didn’t realize she was on fire until her 10-year-old son, Jonathan, yelled and told her.

“I dropped and rolled, but because it was on the lower part of my leg it would not make contact with the ground,” she said. “There was no grass in that area and I had nothing to smother it.”

As she was slapping at the flames with her hands, a long-sleeved flannel shirt she was wearing also caught fire. She said a water faucet was located nearby and she decided to run toward it.

“I knew not to run, but I had no choice at that point,” she added.

Her husband Tim, who was in another part of the yard and heard her screams, came running.

“He had just poured himself a Dr. Pepper and he threw it on me and that put the fire out,” she said.

She said the fire resulted in third degree burns on her leg and less serious second degree burns on her hands.

Pam said she later learned that she had gasoline on her jeans and that’s why the fire jumped from the brush pile to her. The injury to her leg occurred just above the work boots she was wearing.

“The burn was about three-fourths way around the top of the work boot and six to eight inches wide,” she said.

Ironically, she said her jeans were not burned at all during the mishap. She believes it was just the gasoline on her pants that caught fire and burned her leg.

Jonathan was somewhat traumatized by the incident, she said, but fortunately her younger son, seven-year-old Jacob, was inside the house and did not witness the incident.

Her husband, accompanied by her two sons, drove her to Henry County Medical Center in Paris. She was treated and sent home that night with instructions to go the Vanderbilt Hospital Burn Center the next morning. She was hospitalized there and underwent a skin graft early Friday morning. She was hoping to be dismissed from the hospital Monday.

“The burn center her at Vanderbilt has been excellent,” said Pam. The nurses and care partners make sure they take care of your every need.”

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April 8, 2008