Woman saves children from fire
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 4, 2014 1:46 PM
ALBERTSON -- An infant and a young child were rescued from their burning mobile home early Tuesday morning by their mother who climbed through a window to reach them and Albertson volunteer firefighter Taylor Best who helped her.
The mother and her children, an 8-month-old boy and his 4-year-old sister, escaped with only minor injuries and were taken by Duplin County EMS to Vidant Duplin Hospital. The children also suffered from smoke inhalation.
They were treated and released after about and two and a half hours later. Albertson Fire Chief Winslow Tew said he did not know the names of the victims.
The cause of the fire has been traced to an electrical shortage in a space heater in the den of the mobile home.
The fire broke out around 9 a.m. Tuesday in the singlewide mobile home located at Lynn Place just off of N.C. 111 about 20 miles southeast of Goldsboro.
The home was a total loss, Tew said.
Tew said the mother had briefly left the children to walk to a nearby neighbor's house and saw the fire when she returned just minutes later.
She first tried to break out a small window, but realized it was too small to get through.
Best just happened to drive by and saw the fire and the mother trying to get into the house, Tew said.
Best was able to "snatch" a window air conditioning unit out of a bedroom window.
The mother was able to climb in through the window and hand the children out to Best, before climbing out herself. Two other children were in school at the time of the blaze.
Pleasant Grove and Pricetown fire departments provided mutual aid.