Videographer's condition remains critical after scuba tank blast

James Halpin  -

Cindy Burnham was in her pajamas Monday night, leaning over the sink to brush her teeth, when she heard the garage door starting to raise up - her husband was home from a Carolina Hurricanes game.

The next thing she knew she had been thrown to the floor several feet back, with shards of glass from the shattered mirror in her face. Burnham, a photographer at The Fayetteville Observer, grabbed her dog and ran to the door to the garage, trying to find her husband, Rick Allen.

"The door was blown out," Burnham said. "I could see my husband on fire inside the garage."

Allen called for her to call 911 and get a fire extinguisher. She grabbed one a few feet away, then struggled to get the pin out and extinguish the flames burning on Allen's back.

"There was blood coming out of my face, and one eye I couldn't see out of because of all of the blood on my face," Burnham said.

She then called medics on a cell phone, gave them the address and helped guide them to the home on Partridge Court, she said.

Burnham was discharged from Cape Fear Valley Medical Center after receiving between 10 to 12 stitches to her face for her injuries. But Allen, who is also a photojournalist, remained in critical condition on Wednesday at UNC Hospitals' Jaycee Burn Center.

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