LINCOLN CO, N.C. --
Just after 5:30 a.m. Saturday a fire broke out inside a home at 3716 Gastonia Highway in Lincoln County. Firefighters from five area fire departments responded to the scene to find the house engulfed in flames.
Police said that the fire was knocked down quickly, but a ten-month-old girl never made it out of the home, and three others were injured.
The child??s grandmother told Eye Witness News Saturday afternoon that 48-year-old Keith Wells tried to re-enter the burning house to rescue the child, but the fire and heat were too intense. Wells suffered 3rd degree burns and was airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem where he is in critical condition.
6-year-old Jonathan Branch and 26-year-old Rebecca Branch were also injured in the fire. They were taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Lincoln, and have been treated and released.
The Fire Marshal and investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) spent the day at the scene investigating. Police said that the cause of the fire was accidental, and believe that an extension cord plugged into an air conditioning unit overheated and started the fire. Investigators said the unit had been running non-stop during the week's hot weather. A press release from the Lincoln County Police Department also said, ??The baby was located in a crib in the front room of the house where the fire is believed to have started.??
The Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross assisted the family, as well as the firefighters and investigators working in over 90 degree temperatures.
