One of the five boys who sustained burn injuries in a gas fire Thursday has been released from the hospital.
Another boy remains at the University of Utah Burn Center in critical condition.
The boys were walking home from an elementary school in Perry Thursday. The oldest was ten, the youngest seven. The bright red plastic gas containers sat in the open, next to the garage of a house where an older couple lived.
“I heard a big bang and I come running out,” said Cody Neilson, the second neighbor on the scene. Neilson smothered the flames before they could set fire to his neighbor’s house. The owner of the house was busy helping two of the boys who were lying on her lawn.
Along with Neilson and his neighbor, add a UPS driver to the list of good Samaritans who aided the wounded boys.
Perry Mayor Jerry Nelson says the driver was the first to call 9-1-1, getting emergency responders there within two minutes.
Mayor Nelson said he knew the children himself and was, in fact, related to one of the boys.
“You know most of the children in the city so our thoughts and prayers are definitely with the parents,” Mayor Nelson said.
All five boys went to the hospital, and are expected to survive. One boy was treated and released.
One of those three, a 7-year-old, was able to run to his own home, and ask his mother for help.
That boy’s grandfather talked with FOX 13. “You feel sorry for a young boy like that getting hurt that bad. It’s gonna be a slow process getting better, but they say it’ll be alright,” said Blake Glover.
Glover said his grandson breathed in some fumes and was burned in his throat.
