HOUSTON – One Houstonian is fighting for his life in a hospital after being badly burned while trying to help a friend light her home’s fireplace.
Now, that friend is hoping to help in his recovery, despite her own home burning down.
With just a few glances around Marlo Scranton’s home, anyone can see, she is fortunate to be alive. Lamps, walls, floors were burnt to a crisp. Her 14-year home was unrecognizable.
“That’s the bedroom there. That’s the living room area where it first started,” Scranton told KPRC 2.
“It just really completely got out of hand just like that,” Scranton said.
Scranton said it all started on Monday after her home had been without power for two days in freezing weather.
“I was in the house the second day. It was really cold. I really couldn’t take no more, so I had a fireplace and I decided, I wanted to have it lit,” Scranton explained.
That friend was 48-year-old Steve Carl Walston who she said had insisted on coming over despite the cold weather.
“He’s just a good person: Kindhearted, cared about people,” Scranton said.
Scranton said Walston used lighter fluid and gas to help build the fire and a gust of wind directed the fire outward, lighting Scranton and her home on fire. Fire professionals say that it is dangerous and discourage the use of lighter fluid or gas to light an indoor fireplace.
“He lit the fireplace, and it just blew up and blew him up,” Scranton added.
The fire started to spread, almost trapping them.
“He was completely on fire. He couldn’t see. He just followed my voice,” Scranton said.
She led him outside.
“He was laying here,” Scranton said pointing to the ground outside her backdoor.
The door and the windows exploded, injuring Scranton. Despite her pain and her home on fire, she ran to get help.
“I did everything I could to save his life,” Scranton said.
She ran to the front of her home to ask people to call for help. The two were eventually rushed to the hospital. Walston is now fighting for his life, undergoing multiple surgeries.
“From Monday today Thursday [he had] four surgeries, and he has five more surgeries to go,” Scranton said.
When Scranton got home, the situation got worse.
“The pipe busted as well,” Scranton said.
Her home of 14 years was flooded and destroyed. While she’s not sure what her next steps will be, she said, she is determined to help her friend’s recovery.
“Only thing that matters to me right now is that he makes it because materialistic things can be replaced and a life can’t,” Scranton said.
Walston’s family members created a GoFundMe Page for his recovery.
Click here to donate to Walston GoFundMe Page.
Click here to donate to Marlo Scranton (homeowners) GoFundMe Page.