A toddler was severely burned in a fire pit accident in Maury County on Iron Bridge Road.
According to Maury County Fire Department officials, the toddler fell into the fire, and a sibling pulled the little boy out. The incident happened in the backyard of the child's home around 5:45 p.m. Saturday. The child was airlifted to Monroe Carrell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt with burn injuries.
District Fire Chief Richard Schatz said these things can happen in the blink of an eye. As temperatures drop, and people light outdoor fires, it's important to keep an eye on young children who may be playing outside.
"Just watching children around them because it's dark outside and when most people are having them, so them falling over or tripping into the fire is always an issue," Schatz said.
Firefighters advise building a barrier wall around an outdoor fire to prevent kids from falling into the flames.
"With children, if you can create an outer ring, you would almost have two rings for your fire pit," Schatz said. "You'd have an inner ring and then you'd have some type of exterior barrier."
Firefighters don't recommend using gasoline, or accelerant, to light a fire around children. If your child is playing near a camp fire, make sure they have on tight-fitted clothing.
"And then, when you get done with the fire at night, we just ask that you make sure that you go ahead and fully extinguish it because we've seen a lot of injuries where the children have gone out the next morning to play and happened to get into some hot coals," Schatz said.
The injured toddler is still recovering at Vanderbilt in unknown condition.
