Morning SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm returned to television New Year's Day after missing three weeks on the air because of a terrifying home gas grill explosion. Storm broadcasted the Rose Bowl parade on ABC sporting a bandage on her hand from the incident, which also severely burned her face, neck, and chest. The AP account of the freak accident is really quite scary:
"Storm suffered second-degree burns on her chest and hands, and first-degree burns to her face and neck. She lost her eyebrows and eyelashes, and roughly half her hair.
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The award-winning sportscaster and producer was preparing dinner outside her home in Connecticut on the night of Dec. 11 when she noticed the flame on the grill had gone out. She turned off the gas and when she reignited it "there was an explosion and a wall of fire came at me."
"It was like you see in a movie, it happened in a split-second," she said. "A neighbor said he thought a tree had fallen through the roof, it was that loud. It blew the doors off the grill."
With her left hand, she tore off her burning shirt. She tried to use another part of her shirt to extinguish the flames that engulfed her head and chest, while yelling for help. Her 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, called 911 and a computer technician who was working in the house grabbed some ice as Storm tried to cool the burns."
Yesterday, Storm also gave an interview to ABC News about the explosion and her comeback to television. The interview also shows pictures of some of the burns Storm received due to the fire and the steps taken for her to return to the air.
Thankfully, Storm looks to be on her way to fully resuming her career after what must have been a frightening experience.
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