advertisement

Fundraiser planned for Glenbard students hurt in fire pit explosion

Glenbard East High School teachers are organizing an on-campus fundraiser next week to help pay for the medical bills of students who were seriously injured in a fire pit explosion.

Teachers will hold the car wash in the south parking lot of the Lombard school from 8 a.m. to noon May 12 in the latest example of the Glenbard community rallying around the teens who suffered burn injuries in the explosion. Online fundraisers created for three of the teens have cumulatively raised more than $150,000 as of Thursday afternoon.

Well-wishers also have launched a #Paintthetownred campaign on social media to encourage residents to tie ribbons around parkway trees and posts in East's school color.

Police initially said eight people were injured when a flammable liquid was poured onto a fire in a backyard fire pit Saturday night at a home on the 1800 block of Marci Court. Glenside Fire Protection District Chief Russell Wood said Thursday that authorities are "pretty certain" someone poured gasoline out of a 5-gallon can onto the fire during the house party.

At least 12 teens no older than 18 were injured in the explosion, Wood said. Glenside ambulances took two of the teens to the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center near Maywood.

Another teen was taken to Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights by a Bloomingdale ambulance and later transferred by helicopter Saturday night to Loyola. Two others were taken to GlenOaks and transferred to Loyola Sunday.

Seven other teenagers apparently left the scene of the fire and went on their own to GlenOaks as walk-in patients, Wood said.

The chief said it was difficult to tell how many teens were at the house party, but estimated there were roughly 20 to 30. He said authorities do not believe any adults were home at the time.

"When the accident happened, many of them took off running and did not come back to the scene," he said.

Glenside firefighters conducted a demonstration Wednesday at the headquarters station to draw attention to safety around fire pits and warn that flammable materials should never be introduced to a live fire.

Wood said backyard pits should be kept at least 25 feet away from homes and other structures and within easy reach of a garden hose, bucket of sand or fire extinguisher. Charcoal grills should be placed a minimum of 10 feet from the house.

To demonstrate the hazards, firefighters in full gear poured gasoline onto flames in a fire pit surrounded by cardboard figures. Out of the seven figures, five were damaged.

"The problem is that the vapors are very explosive," Wood said. "And even people that have used gasoline or a flammable liquid in their home inside to clean something or use it for a purpose that's not intended, it can have explosive results."

One of the GoFundMe pages was set up for Autumn Hamilton, a 16-year-old girl who suffered third-degree burns on most of her body according to a post on the crowdfunding site. The other pages were created for a teenage boy and girl.

Burn victim's family grateful for 'overwhelming' community support

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.