CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. – Two children rescued from a burning Chesterfield home were released from the hospital Monday, but two adults remain hospitalized, according to Chesterfield Fire and EMS spokesman Lt. Jason Elmore.
CBS 6 has learned that six-year-old David Vance III and one-year-old Liam Xavier Vance will stay with family members until their father, David Vance Jr., and their mother, Stacy, are released from the hospital.
David Vance Jr. could be released from VCU Medical Center as soon as Monday evening, but Stacy remains in critical condition, according to family spokesman Eric Heil.
“Everything is setting in,” Heil said. “We are trying to keep our head up.”
Stacy Vance’s mother, 60-year-old Catherine Gayle of Chester, died in the fire. Stacy Vance tried to rescue her mother before jumping out a second-story window, according to Heil.
Fire investigators said a cigarette improperly discarded on the front porch sparked the fire at 4101 Hamlin Court. By the time fire crews arrived at the home around 2:14 a.m. Sunday, heavy fire had consumed the house.
“Six residents were at home at the time of the fire and one of them was unable to get out of the home on their own. Firefighters entered the burning home and rescued an adult occupant from the second floor of the home,” Lt. Elmore said. “The rescued occupant died later at the hospital.”
A fund has been established to help the family that lost their home to the fire.
http://www.gofundme.com/9rfZno?forcedesktop=1
“They have lost everything,” Heil told CBS 6 reporter Joe St. George.
Elmore said this is twentieth house fire in Chesterfield since January 2013 that is the result of a cigarette — underscoring the importance to properly dispose of materials after smoking.
“Make sure you are using a proper receptacles–Don’t just flick them in the mulch bed,” Elmore said.
