By Kathy Chaffin
Salisbury Post
KANNAPOLIS ó A woman received severe burns all over her body Tuesday afternoon from a fire in the rear of her house on Skyland Street.
A neighbor identified the woman as Donette Carter Glenn. Kannapolis Fire Department spokeswoman Maria Bostian would not release the name.
Bostian said the burn victim was transported by Cabarrus County EMS to Kannapolis Fire Station No. 1, where firefighters established a landing zone for Carolinas Medical Center-Med Center Air. She was then taken to a burn center, Bostian said, though she did not say which one.
Information on Glenn’s condition was not available at press time Tuesday night.
The Kannapolis Fire Department was dispatched to 1007 Skyland St. at 2:38 p.m., Bostian said. Upon arrival, she said, “firefighters worked quickly to assess the patient and extinguish the fire in the rear of the structure.”
Bostian said she could not release any more information about the fire, other than the fact that the Kannapolis Police Department is investigating.
Bostian said the Kannapolis Police Department is investigating the incident. When contacted Tuesday night, police did not have any more information about the fire.
Viola Watson, who lives across from Glenn, said she was inside her house right before the fire sirens sounded when she heard “a loud pop.”
“It sounded just like a gun went off,” she said. “I don’t know whether it came from the fire or something inside the fire busted, and it made that noise.”
Watson said she went outside when she heard the fire sirens and saw Glenn standing on the front porch with a telephone in her hand. Glenn’s clothes had been burned in the back, Watson said, and she was crying out in pain.
Two of the first three firefighters to arrive on the scene went inside the house with Glenn, Watson said. Shortly afterward, she said, an ambulance pulled up, and Glenn was brought out of the house on a stretcher, still crying out in pain.
Watson said she could not see the fire from her house, but said the house did not appear to be on fire. Glenn, who Watson said is in her 30s, grew up in the house and continued living in it after her parents split up and moved.
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249 or kchaffin@salisburypost.com.