Posted on 04/04/2008 11:18:55 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
9-month-old spent night trapped
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. -- A baby girl who spent a rainy night trapped in rubble after a house caught fire and exploded was pulled alive from the wreckage late Friday morning.
The girl, identified by neighbors as Olandrea Chanelle Elliott, 9 months, was in stable condition at Alliance HealthCare in Holly Springs on Friday afternoon before being transferred to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.
Three adults in the home were burned and were being treated at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.
Rescue workers searched for the girl throughout the night after the explosion at 7:41 p.m. Thursday, briefly retreating when the rain became too heavy to continue.
Firefighters found the girl at about 10:30 a.m. after moving debris near what was left of the house's carport.
"One firefighter said, 'We found her.' Another said, 'She's moving!'" said Holly Springs Fire Chief Kenny Holbrook.
"She was alive, and got to kicking," said Rodney Crane, assistant fire chief.
"We have a miracle baby."
A pile of smashed wood and barely identifiable building materials littered the ground where the house had stood, and a hunk of insulation hung in a tree about 20 feet overhead.
The house "was blown to a million pieces," said Holbrook. "Anybody would be lucky to be alive."
Neighbors identified the injured adults as Joe Elliott, his wife, Alma, and their grandson, Michael, who is Olandrea's first cousin.
Friday evening, Joe and Michael Elliott were in critical condition at The Med and Alma Elliott was in good condition.
Firefighters believe a propane gas leak caused the house to catch fire; it exploded seconds later.
A neighbor, Birdie Evans, 53, said the explosion shook her house two doors down.
"We heard a noise and said, 'Lord, what was that?' I thought it was a train collision. It was so loud," she said.
When she got outside, she said, the house was gone.
Another neighbor, Cynthia Bell, 38, said, "I saw a ball of fire, and the sky lit up."
Neighbors believe the Elliotts had complained about a gas leak, but an official at the scene with the Holly Springs Utility Department said he was sure the utility hadn't received a complaint, and the identity of the family's propane supplier wasn't known. The utility department does not supply propane.
Crane said propane gas can be particularly dangerous when it leaks, filling up nooks and crannies until something ignites it.
In this case, he said, "It went. It went. It was like an A-bomb.
"Everything's just totally gone. Boom."
Contact Hank Dudding at 529-2565.
:)
PING
Praise the Lord God Almighty!
Prayers for Olandrea Chanelle Elliott & her family
The two year old daughter of a distant cousin survived the disaster when a plane crashed after takeoff in New Orleans many years ago. She had been in her crib, and it got blown over by the blast. The fireman found her when they heard her crying as they were searching the area for survivors.
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