Milton burn victims remain at Mass General

First responders at the scene of Saturday's grease fire incident on Northeast Pond Road. (Harrison Thorp photo)

Correction – Two women were severely burned in a grease fire inside their Northeast Pond Road home on Saturday. They were mistakenly identified in a Sunday story. The Lebanon Voice apologizes for the error. The error has been corrected in the previous story.

MILTON – The two women burned on Saturday inside their Northeast Pond Road home were cooking food when a grease fire erupted sending them both to the hospital, Milton Fire Chief Nick Marique said today.

He said it was unclear how the fire actually started, but the origin of the flame was a free standing pot on a stovetop burner.

He said two female adults, one in her 50a and one in her 20s, are both still in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The older woman, who was Medflighted by DHART chopper, was burned the most severely. The younger woman was transported by ambulance to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester and then on to Boston. Their condition was unavailable, Marique said.

The call came in to Milton Fire and Rescue around 3:30 p.m. from a neighborhood resident who said they heard moaning and crying coming from the residence at 204 Northeast Pond Road. The neighborhood resident, who did not wish to be identified, said they would have gone to help but the property is home to several dogs they did not want to be confronted by.

They said they immediately called 911.

Marique said cooking fires are one of the leading causes of household fires. He said it is important that no one ever try to handle a pan in which a grease fire has erupted. He said you can cover the pan, which will cut off the fire’s oxygen supply, or throw baking soda on it. He said to never throw water on a grease fire and that every kitchen should be equipped with a fire extinguisher.

He said if the flame can’t be put out safely, get everybody out of the house and call 911.

Cooking is, and has long been, the leading cause of home structure fires and home fire injuries. This is true for both fires reported to fire departments and those handled without fire department assistance, according to the National Fire Prevention Association.

During the five-year period of 2007-2011, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 156,600 home structure fires in which cooking equipment was involved in the ignition or in which the fire department used an incident type that identified a cooking fire that did not spread beyond the cooking vessel. Together, these fires caused an average of 400 civilian deaths, 5,080 reported civilian fire injuries, and $853 million in direct property damage per year. Overall, these incidents accounted for two of every five reported home fires (43%) and reported home fire injuries (38%), 16% of home fire deaths, and 12% of the direct property damage resulting from home fires.