Fire ordeal devastating for couple

GOOSE CREEK — Jeremy Shultz was supposed to be in New Orleans tonight to videotape the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Instead, the 37-year-old freelance camera operator remains in critical condition at the Augusta, Ga., burn center after he caught fire in front of his girlfriend and their 3-year-old son during a Dec. 30th blaze that destroyed their home.

Shultz sustained burns all over his body while trying to move a gasoline container away from the flames that engulfed his back porch at 801 Edmonton Circle. The container appears to have ignited in his arms, girlfriend MaryAnn Hernandez said Monday.

'He was trying to save us.'

Goose Creek firefighters said the accidental fire started about 4:20 a.m. near the fireplace.

Hernandez was sleeping in a bedroom when a loud popping noise woke her up, she said. She saw the flames on the back porch and screamed to Shultz for help. She ran to get the fire extinguisher and yelled out to Shultz to move the gas can before it could catch fire. The next thing she knew he was engulfed in flames.

Shultz ran into the house and dropped and rolled on the floor in front of her and their 3-year-old son, Dallas. She threw a blanket on him to put out the flames.

'Everything was burned on him except for his armpits,' she said.

Hernandez pushed Shultz, Dallas and her 11-year-old daughter, Cinnamin, out of the house to safety.

She sent the children to stay with her mother in the Lowcountry while she stayed by Shultz's side at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at the Doctor's Hospital in Augusta, where he is expected to remain for at least another three months.

She said Dallas has been traumatized by what he saw and because he lost everything he had. However, staying somewhere familiar has been helpful.

Hernandez returned to the Lowcountry for the first time Monday, when she and Cinnamin shared a birthday.

Shultz, she said, is a freelance camera operator for CBS Sports, Fox and ESPN. He was supposed to be on assignment in Atlanta the next day at the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, in Kansas City Sunday for the Chiefs-Raiders game and then in New Orleans today for the Sugar Bowl.

The family plans to set up a fund to help with expenses.

'It's hard,' she said. 'We lost everything.'

Reach Andy Paras at 937-5589 or at twitter.com/andyparas.