Couple injured over the weekend in camper explosion at Hunting Island State Park, officials say
Ralph Fermin told police he was lying in bed inside a camper at the campgrounds on Hunting Island State Park last Saturday morning when his wife went to light the oven to cook breakfast. Then, the oven exploded.
A “large fireball” filled the camper, police said in a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.
“Ralph jumped into action when he saw his wife and ‘best friend,’ Sabra, on fire from head to toe, screaming,” said Dixie Lanier, Sabra Fermin’s younger sister, in a GoFundMe post. “Ralph grabbed Sabra and barreled through the camper door to the ground below to cover her to stop the fire.”
A witness who was riding an electric bike in the area at the time of the explosion said that they saw “smoke and flames coming from the camper” before a fireman who was also camping in the area began to help the couple, according to the report.
When firefighters arrived at the campsite, Lady’s Island/St. Helena Fire District spokesperson Scott Harris said, they found two people, the Fermins, one with “burns to the lower extremities,” and the other with “significant burns as well.” The Fermins were transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital for treatment, Harris said. Both were later transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, according to Lanier’s GoFundMe post for the couple.
The couple’s daughter, known as Morgan Amelia online, said her parents have giving hearts and that her mother is known for starting pay-it-forward trends at their local Starbucks on Saturday mornings.
“Recently, while we were at the drugstore, she paid for a gentleman’s medication, who did not have enough money or insurance,” she said.
The couple grew up in Beaufort and have been together since high school, according to Lanier. Ralph Fermin is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. The two are “best friends,” she said, who enjoy camping and traveling.
In an update on the page Tuesday, Lanier said doctors performed Ralph Fermin’s first surgery and were concerned about one of his feet that had been badly burned. Sabra Fermin is in a medically induced coma, according to Ralph Fermin’s sister, Caroline Fermin.
“It breaks my heart to see Sabe and Ralph going through this,” Lanier said. “They have been together since I was 6 months old and are like my parents to me. Please pray.”
The cause of the fire was still under investigation, according to Lady’s Island/St. Helena fire District Battalion Chief John Norton.
Safety Tips
The most common place for fires to start in recreational vehicles and or campers is the kitchen followed by the engine or wheel area, according to the National Fire Protection Association. NFPA advises that gas leak detectors and smoke alarms be used in campers to ensure fire safety.
- Make sure your camper or RV has enough smoke alarms and that they are tested periodically
- Keep updated gas leak detectors on hand
- Keep a working fire extinguisher accessible
- Only one heat-producing appliance should be plugged into a receptacle outlet at a time.
- All major appliances should be plugged into a wall receptacle outlet.
- Make sure that family members know at least two ways out of each section of the vehicle and that windows can be opened easily.
- Create a fire escape plan and a meeting place beforehand so that family members know where to go once they have escaped a fire
- Ensure that all lamps, campfires and camping heaters have been shut off before going to bed.
- Campfires need to be at least 25 feet away from anything flammable
