December 15, 2011
An early morning fire in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday sent a child and his infant sibling to the hospital. According to WRAL News, firefighters received the two-alarm call to the 1500 Block of N. Raleigh Boulevard at around 4:30 in the morning.
Witnesses stated that a single mother of four lived in the apartment where the fire originated. Rescuers were able to pull the family to safety, but the eldest child soon went into respiratory arrest and had to be revived by paramedics. Both the child and his infant sibling were taken to WakeMed to be treated for smoke inhalation. The children’s mother was taken to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill to have several cuts examined that happened when she fell as she was fleeing from the fire.
Investigators say the cause of the blaze was unattended food cooking on a stove top.
One of the most common and deadly injuries one can suffer in a fire is smoke inhalation. Coroners often find that victims in fatal fires were dead from inhaling the surrounding fumes long before they are ever burned. Some of the common side effects of smoke inhalation are:
- Sore, irritated throat
- Coughing and Hoarseness
- Difficulty Breathing
- Change in skin tone
- Headache and Nausea
Some overseas studies have even linked smoke inhalation to an increased risk of lung cancer later in life.
If you have suffered a fire and burn injury that was caused at no fault of your own, contact the North Carolina Fire and Burn Injury Lawyers with HensonFuerst today to discuss your options with an experienced team of attorneys.