Baby suffers severe burns by stray firework in Montgomery Co.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

(7/05/07 - KTRK/MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX) (KTRK) -- A 4-month-old baby is in the hospital with burns to more than a quarter of her little body. A firework went awry and hit the baby's mother as she held her in her arms.

It happened during a holiday gathering in a Montgomery County neighborhood Wednesday night.

"It's pretty rough," said Charles Cordery, whose daughter was injured in the accident.

Rushing his baby girl, Rory, to the north Montgomery Fire Department with second degree burns to 30% of her little body is not how Cordery envisioned celebrating America's birthday.

"It scared my wife real bad," he said. "The other neighbors who where there, everybody was pretty panicked about it."

But that's how it went down Wednesday night at the Willis home.

"Surprising," said Cordery. "Because it went from being a good time to panic. It happened that quick. And it was nobody's fault. It was a malfunction in the firework itself."

Neighbors say the mom was sitting in the driveway watching the fireworks show when one went astray, hit her in the chest and fell into the baby's blanket. Chief Bob Robinson says the child was in bad shape, which made it more difficult for even the most experienced emergency crews.

"It's extremely tough, especially for an infant like that. It ended up being close to 30 percent of the body burned, some of it up to third degree burns," he said.

Cordery says doctors have already indicated some good news. There's a good chance Rory may be able to come home as soon as tomorrow. But he has a warning for parents whose children may still have fireworks to use.

"We were out there. There were adults supervising. There were six adults out there and two older teenage children. It wasn't being unsupervised," he said. "Make sure you watch what your children are doing with these things because it's serious. My baby's in the hospital."

The baby's mother says her daughter is in good condition. We also had a chance to talk to the North Montgomery Fire Marshal's office. They tell us they're looking into this and have opened an investigation. There aren't any charges pending.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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