NEW SALEM, Pa. (AP) -- A man jumped through a first-floor window to escape a duplex fire before rushing back into the building to save his 15-month-old son.
Joel Shumar, 27, who lives in Searights Village, a development of renovated former company homes in Menallen Township, Fayette County, suffered third-degree burns on his back and facial cuts.
Shumar said his fiance, Holly Bryner, 21, and their son, John David Bryner, were unhurt. Shumar remained in serious condition in the burn unit of West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
The fire started at 8:11 a.m. near an electric baseboard heater, then quickly spread.
The heater either malfunctioned or it caught a nearby couch or some drapes on fire, a state police fire marshal said.
Shumar's family, and three people in a neighboring apartment, were relocated with the help of the American Red Cross.
