GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Melita Bates is stunned by the destruction in her adult son's bedroom. An electrical spark caused a fire Friday morning at her home in Gaston County.
"I'm blessed to have my son," she said.
She woke at 2 a.m. and smelled smoke, but couldn't tell where it originated.
She stepped onto the back porch of the East Davidson Street home. It was pitch black.
She had to use her cellphone to light her way.
The dim light was enough to see smoke coming from her 30-year-old son's room.
"I was the most scared I had been in my life, because I didn't think he was going to come out of that room,” she said.
She ran back inside and banged on his locked bedroom door until he woke up and struggled to get out.
"I could hear him falling and I could hear glass breaking,” she said.
He finally made it out and had to be treated for smoke inhalation, but is fine.
Fire investigators said an electrical spark caused the fire.
Bates said it is divine intervention that she happened to have her cellphone just when she needed light.
"I'm so grateful that (it) is not as bad as it could have been,” Bates said.