NAME:
Erin Mounsey
DATE OF FIRE:
October 26, 1999
AGE AT TIME
OF FIRE:
26
LOCATION:
Durango, Colo.
INJURY:
Burns over 86 percent
of his body.
―You can never be too prepared or too safe — a momentary safety lapse can have tragic results.
I’ve seen amazing results of what sprinklers can do and would like to think they would have made
a difference in my situation.‖
–
Erin Mounsey – Severely burned after a pilot light ignited the floorfinishing chemical he was using in 1999
While refinishing the wood floors in a home in Durango, Colo., something went terribly wrong for Erin
Mounsey. As he was finishing up, the chemical fumes ignited from a pilot light located in the basement.
Instantly the whole room was ablaze. Erin managed to get out of the house within a minute, but was
severely burned.
After spending two months in a medically induced coma, Erin began a long road to recovery that would
lead him places he could never have imagined. Beating the 10 percent chance of survival he was given,
and following seven months in the hospital and two months at a rehabilitation facility, it finally seemed that
Erin had beaten the odds. It’s taken more than 40 surgeries to help Erin heal and reconstruct his badly
damaged skin, but his psychological injuries took longer to heal. After some trouble with the law and
dealing with his post-traumatic stress disorder, he was finally able to discover love and healing again
through a chance meeting at the World Burn Congress in 2005. The burn survivor he met, who is now his
wife, has helped him come to terms with the abilities he lost. But more importantly, his wife has helped
him see the things he can still do and find a new sense of purpose and value.
ABOUT ―FACES OF FIRE‖
“Faces of Fire” is a project of the National Fire Protection Association funded by a Federal Emergency
Management Agency Fire Prevention and Safety Grant. The campaign is a tool to help people and
groups across the country promote the use of automatic fire sprinklers in one- and two-family homes. By
containing fires before they spread, home fire sprinklers protect lives and property. The personal stories
told through the Faces of Fire campaign show the experiences of those who escaped or lost loved ones
in home fires and those whose lives and property were protected by home fire sprinklers.
www.firesprinklerinitiative.org/faces