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Darwin Awards
2010 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
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Blaze started as man was trying to

2010 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

MERLIN — A man, his wife and their 7-year-old nephew were burned Friday night in a fire at their mobile home west of Merlin. The man, Walter L. "Lee" Jacobson, 52, died Saturday at a Portland hospital.

The fire evidently started when Jacobson used gasoline to start a fire in his fireplace, according to Chris Lyman, a deputy state fire marshal.

Also injured in the blaze at 291 Sallsten Road were Jacobson's wife, Sandra, 60, and their nephew, Nathaniel A. Byrns, 7.

Nathaniel was in critical condition this morning at the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. Sandra Jacobson was burned on the hands and is due to come back to Josephine County on Tuesday, according to family friend Ferris Morago.

Sandra Jacobson is the kitchen manager at Manzanita Elementary School, where Nathaniel attended first grade.

The couple's 15-year-old daughter, Melissa, was home, but was not injured.

"She loved her Uncle Lee," Morago said. "That's going to be hard."

Neighbor Dutch Caswell said he saw Walter Jacobson engulfed in flames outside the home, and that Sandra Jacobsondrove her husband and Nathaniel to Three Rivers Community Hospital, where she was treated and released. "He was running around the front yard and on fire," said Caswell, who called 911 after hearing an explosion and crossing the street to make sure everyone was out of the home.

The fire was reported at 9:34 p.m. Friday, according to fire dispatch logs. Inland Fire extinguished flames. Rural/Metro Fire Department, which arrived shortly after Inland, stood by, according to Assistant Chief Eric Hamilton of Inland Fire.

Hamilton said it appears the family's main source of heat was from wood.

"They had some wet wood they were trying to get ignited," Hamilton said. "With the wet firewood and the cold night, it was a bad mix."

Lyman, of the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office, said gasoline vapors seep low to the ground, and can ignite quickly.

"You create a flash fire," he said. "Kind of an explosion."

Lyman said Walter Jacobson had been in front of the fireplace at the time of the fire. A gas can was found knocked over nearby, he said.

Morago, the family friend, said doctors were going to bring Nathaniel out of an induced coma today. "They're going to see how he's doing," she said.

Nathaniel's mother, Amy, is in Portland, according to another friend, Sara Lynn, who said the boy has burns on about 30 percent of his body.

"Nathaniel's being sedated right now because he's so young and the burns are so bad," Lynn said Saturday.

Lynn said the boy's family did not have health insurance on the child.

Submitted on 11/30/2010

Submitted by: Brad Vincent
Reference: Grants Pass Daily Courier, 11/29/10

Copyright © 2010 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Bystanders Hurt
Thanks, Brad, but the man is responsible for the injuries to his wife and the child, which is an automatic toss. And the child is below our maturity cutoff of 16, which is also an automatic toss.


Candi said:
Definitely Toss: Bystanders Hurt
What Bruce said.


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