WRAL
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. — A paramedic coming off a 78-hour shift is fighting for her life after being critically injured in an explosion outside her home on Christmas Day. Her youngest daughter was also seriously hurt.
Fire officials said they believe Lorrie Williams, a single mother of five girls and a paramedic for Gaston and Halifax counties, may have mistakenly added a can containing gasoline to a controlled burn in her backyard, thinking it was an empty can of kerosene.
“I ran outside, and my mom was just covered in flames,” 14-year-old Alexis Williams said. “She was trying to roll – stop, drop and roll – and I told her to get up and go jump in the pool, and that’s what she did.”
Read full story: Halifax paramedic, daughter seriously injured in Christmas Day explosion