Warning over campground mistake after horror accident leaves daughter with burns
A short time later, she heard her daughter Coral scream out — the seven-year-old had inadvertently stepped onto the remnants of another group's fire at Keelbottom Creek near Mingala, west of Townsville.
The little girl dropped to the ground in searing pain and in doing so, burned her hands as well. The youngster, whose birthday is next week, now faces a long road to recovery from her third-degree burns.
"We told the kids to go and explore and [my daughter] walked straight through the fire," Ashlea told Yahoo News. The mum raced to her aid and recalled the gut-wrenching feeling of finding her child "screaming" in pain.
"I was so overwhelmed, I didn't know what to do," she said.
The family dropped everything and raced her to the nearest hospital, which was over an hour away. Coral suffered third-degree burns on her right foot and her fingers, and the family now has an anxious wait to see if she needs to have skin grafts.
Seasoned camper Ashlea has hit out at the neighbouring campsite who "left their fire" still simmering.
"It's common sense to put out your fire," she told Yahoo News, adding that she's been left "angry and upset" at the ordeal. "It could have happened to anyone, or it could have caused a bushfire."
She pointed out the campsite was "right next" to a creek and the water could have been used to put out the fire. "My kids know not to touch or go anywhere near the fire," she said.
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Ashlea said Coral is in "a lot of pain" and the ordeal has been "very traumatising" for the young girl.
"She said she doesn't want to go camping again and has called herself stupid because she didn't look where she was going," the mum said. "I've told her that it's not her fault. It could have happened to anyone."
While Ashlea concedes her daughter was barefoot at the time, she believes her children deserve the opportunity to "be kids and get dirty".
"Just make sure you put out your fires with water, don't stomp them out or cover them with sand, take extra water with you because you never know what's going to happen," she urged other campers.
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