THE family of a woman badly injured in a house fire say she is still critical in intensive care but is “doing well”.
Patricia Marfell’s lungs were badly damaged in the blaze at her home in Willow Grove, Elton. She also suffered burns to her arms and back.
The 55-year-old mother was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital but the following evening was transferred to the specialist burns unit at Whiston Hospital in St Helens.
Her eldest daughter, Natalie Tierney, 25, said: “She’s in intensive care and still at Whiston. She’d gone into the burns unit but had to be moved back into intensive care.
“Mum is doing well considering what she’s gone through. She’s probably got a long way to go.”
Miss Tierney said her mum’s oxygen levels were good and she was breathing by herself, though she had developed a chest infection.
She added: “Mum has come round a couple of times and was aware of what’s going on but can’t remember what happened.”
The blaze drama started around midday on Monday, March 3, when neighbours smelled smoke coming from the property.
Miss Tierney’s father David and sister Tiffany, 18, arrived home just as Ellesmere Port and Chester firefighters were rescuing her mother from an upstairs room.
She explained the family was taking things “day by day” and her father was “as best he can be” in the circumstances.
Neighbour Dawn Edwards has told how helpless she felt on hearing Mrs Marfell’s screams for help that day.
Mrs Edwards, who was with her daughters Stephanie, 19, Stacey, 16, and Stacey’s child Chelsea, 19 months, said: “My eldest daughter got us all out and called the fire brigade.
“I ran next door and the glass in the side window exploded. I went round to the front and that exploded. I heard her screaming for help.”
Neighbour Stuart Smith fetched ladders but found it was impossible to attempt a rescue.
Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service said the investigation into the cause is ongoing, although the family believe investigators are “99.9% certain” the cause is a faulty electrical heater.
