It is a Saturday Natasha Hadley will not soon forget.
She had been to yard sales that morning with her mother and afterward returned to her Oakwood Court home to care for her daughters, 7-year-old Nikeycia and 4-year-old Aaliyah.
Natasha said she put a pot of grease on the stove, but soon found herself in the bathroom. She is the first trimester of her third pregnancy and morning sickness, she says, has been terrible.
While she was in the bathroom, trouble was brewing.
“It was smoky in the house and right away I knew what it was,” she said.
Natasha asked Nikeycia to move the pot from the stove, a move which would end with a hospital stay.
“She grabbed it and the handle was hot,” said the mother of two. “She tried to switch it and the grease splattered on her hand, then ithit the floor and splattered Aaliyah.”
Natasha said she feared the 7-year-old hadn’t thought to use the pot holder and as she came up the hallway she realized her fear was a reality.
“Automatically I knew what happened.”
With her mother right across the street, Natasha took her girls to their grandmother’s house. The burn gel they tried wasn’t working.
“All I could think about was that I needed to get them to LeBonheur.”
She reportedly headed home to collect a few items before the trip to Memphis. The girls, she said, were crying hysterically. Then she remembered she could take them to first responders at the Munford Fire Department. When she pulled up, she could see firefighters outside training.
“Before I could get my youngest out of the car, they were there,” she said. “My girls just took to them and calmed down; one of them was hugging me too and I broke down crying.”
At the fire department, Chief J.R. Bonson said the girls were evaluated and one of the firefighters went to Natasha’s home to make sure the stove had been shut off.
“It never dawned on me that the grease was hot enough to the catch the house on fire,” Natasha said.
Meanwhile, she and her daughters were transported to LeBonheur where Nikeycia stayed for three days. She suffered third degree burns on her right hand while Aaliyah suffered both second and third degree burns on her legs.
Though her daughters have scars, the incident has brought about positive changes for Natasha.
“This has changed the way I think about the fire department,” she said, noting the negative impression she’s held of the fire department. “I just really wanted to commend them and I want the community to know they’re here to help.”
One of the best things, said Natasha, is that Nikeycia was given a stuffed animal, which she held on to the entire time she was in the hospital.
“The firefighters are so nice and sweet,” the 7-year-old said. “They come to my school and give me books and candy and they were in the Christmas parade.”
“We’re just doing our job,” said fire chief J.R. Bonson. “Any time the public needs us, they can just drive up.”
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