A Greenville man who suffered burns and lacerations escaping a fire in his Old Ashby Road mobile home Saturday morning remains hospitalized.
Tyler Auger, 26, suffered second degree burns to his back, shoulders, face and lungs, his brother Alan Auger of Boston said Tuesday.
“It’s hard to imagine someone waking up in all of that,” Alan Auger said. “It’s been a nightmare, but we’re so happy he’s alive.”
Greenville firefighters responded to the mobile home community Greenville Estates at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday when they were called to Old Ashby Road at Titan Lane for a report of a structure fire.
“The structure fire quickly spread to both vehicles in the driveway and caused crews to have to deal with a ruptured gasoline tank that continued to feed the fire,” the Greenville Fire Department said on Facebook. “The call quickly escalated to a 2nd alarm and crews from Mason, New Ipswich, Townsend, Jeffrey, and Wilton responded to the scene to assist.”
The Facebook post only said of Auger, “The occupant was able to get himself out of the structure before crews arrived on scene.”
When contacted over Memorial Day weekend Greenville fire officials said they would not comment further. Greenville Fire Chief Charles Buttrick said Wednesday that Greenville fire investigator Ned White continues to investigate the cause of the fire.
In response to the fire, Greenville resident William Brooks and his wife Brittney Christiansen created a GoFundMe page for Auger. The couple who live down the street from Auger, said it was something a friend did for them when their house burned down in Dec. of 2017.
Auger lost everything in the fire. “So we kind of know what he’s going through,” Brooks said.
A lot of people in the community wanted to help so they created the site, Brooks said. The money being raised is to help Auger buy personal items like clothes and to help pay for his medical bills.
“He’s currently being treated in Worcester at a hospital,” Alan Auger said. “They took him there because he received second-degree burns on his back his shoulder and he also received some burns in his lungs … and a minor second-degree burn on his face.”
When he first arrived at the hospital he was put in a medically induced coma. “They medically sedated him for a few days, due to the nature of his lung injuries they needed to make sure his airways didn’t restrict,” Alan Auger said.
He remains in the intensive care unit, Auger said Tuesday, and most recently underwent surgery to remove glass from under his knee.
Auger woke up during the fire and broke through a glass window to escape, his brother said. He escaped, but suffered major lacerations on his abdomen, knees and right arm, he said.
“They expect him to make an almost full recovery. … He’s young. He’s able to bounce back,” his brother said. “He fought to survive and wanted to live and now he gets the opportunity to.”
The house and property are devastated, but his brother is alive, he said, and his brother’s dog Rosie also survived. “Rosie also made it thankfully,” he said.
Auger is expected to be recovering and then resting from his injuries for the next several months, his brother said. On Wednesday, Auger was listed in fair condition at UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Mass., said Tony Berry, Senior Director of Media and Public Relations for the hospital.
One of Auger’s neighbors, Leanne Sargent runs the Greenville Estates social committee, which is accepting cash and gift cards for Auger, “for neighbors who are not internet savvy.” People can reach Sargent through Facebook or via the committee’s email at GESocialCommittee@gmail.com if they would like to make a donation.
Sargent said she saw the fire firsthand.
“I woke up, my daughter was crying, just having a night terror, and my whole bedroom was daylight,” Sargent said. “Every single one of my bedroom windows were bright orange I opened my window and looked out and the flames were sky high and loud and something I will not unsee.”
When Sargent gathered outside with her other Greenville Estates neighbors, she learned Auger had escaped and was at a neighbor’s house.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but many are speculating the fire had something to do with a power outage.
The power in the neighborhood had been out from about 6:30 p.m. to about 11:45 p.m. on Friday, Sargent said.
Auger lost his mobile home, all of his personal belongings and two vehicles, Sargent said. “There is nothing that could be salvaged from there.”
When he is released from the hospital he will need to be able to buy clothes and toiletries, she said. “We’re asking just for people to donate cash or gift cards right now cause he has nowhere to put anything.”
The efforts of the community to raise money for his brother mean a lot to the family, Alan Auger said. “We really appreciate it as a family,” he said. “He’s got nothing. He doesn’t own a shirt.”
The GoFundMe account can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-funds-greenville-nh.
Editor’s note: This was story was updated Friday, May 31, to clarify the Greenville Estates social committee is just a social committee, Sargent lives near but not right next door to Auger and that the cause of the fire is unknown.