Mother of 5 sent to Augusta burn center

Florence Bradley, 37, a mother of five, was listed in fair condition at Beaufort Memorial Hospital before she was transferred Friday afternoon to the Augusta Burn Center in Georgia, officials said. Fire officials said unattended cooking led to the fire that destroyed the family's Saxonville Road home on St. Helena.

Bradley's five children were at school at the time of the blaze.

Firefighters from the Lady's Island-St. Helena Fire District were called to a home on Saxonville Road at about 8:45 a.m. when a passer-by reported seeing smoke, said Lee Levesque, fire district spokesman. It took more than 35 firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze but not before the fire gutted the interior of the home.

According to Gordon Robertson, spokesman for the Red Cross, the agency is gathering up clothing and food for Bradley and her five children after their possessions were lost in the blaze. The children will stay with an aunt.

Bradley, who was the only one home at the time, managed to escape and fled to a neighbor's home for help, Levesque said, who said her injuries were related to smoke inhalation.