Published November 02. 2009 05:00PM
A Tuscarora home was heavily damaged and a young man seriously burned in a fire Saturday morning in Schuylkill County. The fire was first reported just after 8 a.m. at the home of Robert and Ann Smith in the three hundred block of Mulberry Street. When fire fighters arrived from numerous surrounding communities they found heavy flames and smoke shooting from the second floor of the dwelling. The Smith's son, Danny, received third degree burns over 25 percent of his upper body. Because of the weather conditions a medical transport helicopter was not available. Smith was treated at the scene by members of the Tamaqua ambulance then transported to the Pottsville Hospital. He was later transferred to the burn unit of the Lehigh Valley Hospital Trauma Center in Allentown. Fire officials report the fire started in the rear second floor bathroom. Apparently a cigarette was placed under a spigot to extinguish it and then thrown into a waste can. The cigarette was not out and started the fire.
LARRY NEFF/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS