Beloved restaurant worker hospitalized after Pickens house explosion burns 60% of her body

PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. — A Pickens County restaurant is rallying behind one of its kitchen workers after she was severely burned in a house fire and explosion on Saturday.

Around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Pickens County Fire and Rescue responded to a house off Hwy. 53. Firefighters found a woman who had made it out of the home, where there were signs of an explosion.

Paramedics life-flighted the victim to Grady Memorial Hospital’s burn unit. It took the fire department four hours to get the fire out.

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Annie’s Restaurant owners identified the woman as one of their kitchen staff workers, Shelly, who has worked in the Jasper restaurant for five years. The restaurant owners wrote on Facebook that Shelly suffered second and third-degree burns on 60% of her body.

On Monday, the restaurant thanked the community for the words of encouragement and hundreds of phone calls. They also shared an update on Shelly’s condition with permission from her family.

“We got to go and visit Shelly yesterday briefly and she has a very, very long road ahead of her. We did receive a text message this morning from her daughter that she did have another good night last night. All of her vitals are continuing to remain normal and stable. Although she is still intubated they were able to take her oxygen down from 100% to 40%!! She has her first surgery scheduled for today at 1:30 so please continue to pray as she is not out of the woods yet and still has a long way to go before her true recovery even starts!!”

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The restaurant says it is setting up a checking account at the Community Bank of Pickens County in her name to help with medical expenses. You can donate at the restaurant, the bank, GoFundMe or on Venmo @hrenae92.

“Not only is she battling for her life at the moment but she also lost everything she owns in the explosion and fire. Please continue to lift her up in prayer as God is continuing to work his miracle on her!! We can’t thank our amazing community enough and we love each and every one of you!!”

Fire Chief Tim Prather told Channel 2 Action News that the investigators will be back on the property Wednesday with the cause of the fire still unclear.

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