Wagoner Woman Burned As Child Shares Story As Warning To Parents, Kids

A Wagoner woman is sharing her story as a warning to parents and kids.

She was badly burned as a child when her brother picked up a garden hose that had been sitting in the sun and sprayed her, not knowing the hose was filled with scalding hot water.

Shirley Tanner was just three years old when it happened.  54 years later, she says she still remembers that terrifying day.

“My parents never dreamed it could be that hot,” she said.  “One brother turned the spigot on, the other was holding the hose so, when the water came out, it came directly on me and it just took the skin right off of me.”

Tanner suffered first and second degree burns on one side of her body.

She recalls the moment the hot water came shooting out of the hose, burning her skin.

“When they picked me up to try to carry me, is when it all kind of slid off,” she said.  “I was burned on my lower right trunk, front, back hip, leg.”

She says she doesn’t have any scars, but she still has those painful memories and the original newspaper article documenting her injuries.

“People are just bumfuzzled by it,” she said.  “They’re just shocked that it could get that hot.”

The Wagoner Fire Chief, Kelly Grooms, says the water can reach “130, 140 degrees sitting in that hose.”

He says, there are very few injuries as painful as a burn.

“They’re just in pain and there’s not much you can do for them,” he said.

Grooms says, as your kids play outside this summer, it’s important to talk to them about water safety.

“When it gets up around 100 degrees outside, that hose just contains that heat,” he explained.

This may seem like common sense, but the chief admits, it’s something he didn’t think about and now wants others to know the risks.

Fire officials say burns like these are uncommon, but when they do happen they are very painful.

Doctors say that water inside a hose can get to the same temperature as a pot of coffee, so it’s definitely something worth talking to your kids about.