LUMBERTON — A father died Tuesday night in a house fire while trying to rescue his handicapped son, who survived the blaze but with serious burns.
Jimmy Branch, 75, died in the fire at 5138 Singletary Church Road that injured his 50-year-old son,Jeffrey Chavis, who is confined to a wheelchair.
Chavis was airlifted to a burn center in North Carolina, said Stephanie Chavis, director of Robeson County Emergency Management.
Chavis said it appears that Branch got his son up and in his wheelchair and pushed him to the back of the home, away from the fire. At that point investigators believe the father collapsed.
Branch could not be rescued because the fire’s intensity prevented anyone from going back inside the home, said Johnny Coleman, assistant fire chief of the Allenton Volunteer Fire Department, which battled the blaze after getting a call at 10:58 p.m.
“The first guy was rescued by deputies and neighbors,” said Coleman, who works as a Lumberton police officer.
The fire destroyed the single-wide mobile home.
The Britt’s and East Howellsville volunteer fire departments, and the Lumberton Rescue Squad and county Emergency Medical Service also responded to the fire.
“Between the three volunteer fire departments we probably had nine firefighting vehicles there,” Coleman said.
The Allenton firefighters didn’t leave the scene until 2 a.m. because they were on standby as Robeson County sheriff’s deputies conducted their investigation, he said.
“The bad thing was this was a family that had been displaced by Hurricane Matthew,” Coleman said.
