SEBASTIAN — An elderly Sebastian couple remain hospitalized with serious burns following a mid-day fire Monday in their duplex unit in the 1000 block of Louisiana Avenue.

Karen Baker, 68, and her husband, Jimmy Yates, 75, were taken to a burn treatment facility in Orlando after initially being treated at Health First in Melbourne, officials said.

Barker, who is an invalid on oxygen, had burns on about 45 percent of her body, said her daughter, Debora Wagner.

Her stepfather was burned on his hands and face.

“It’s just not good,” she said Monday evening of her parents’ medical condition.

The fire was extinguished about 10 minutes after it began, shortly after noon, said Steve Marcinik, Sebastian Police Department spokesman.

A state fire marshall is to look into the cause of the blaze in one unit in a four-unit duplex.

Wagner drove up to the couple’s home to find the front door open with thick black smoke coming out and she rushed in.

Smoke and heat kept Wagner from getting into her mother’s back bedroom so Wagner went to the back of the unit and started using a garden house to spray water inside, while telling her mother to stay low on the floor.

“She said she couldn’t breath,” the daughter said.

Sebastian Police Detective Ron Carlson and officer Eric Antosia responded to 911 calls and pulled Baker from the unit. Yates was able to walk.

Fire officials said there was an oxygen tank near the front door of the residence, which could have exploded, had the fire spread to the front of the home.

Four fire trucks responded to the blaze, including a ladder truck.

One other apartment was occupied at the time of the fire. The resident was not injured; he left the building and his home was unaffected, fire officials said.

The American Red Cross’ local chapter is providing assistance.

Elliott Jones

Tags: burns, couple, elderly, fire, fire marshal, hospitalized, invalid, medical condition, melbourne, orlando, police

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