CHERRYVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said a man burned in a camper fire on Tuesday.
Deputies responded to a possible burglary of a camper parked on the property in the 1300 block of Bess Chapel Church Road in Lincoln County. When they arrived, the owner told them a man was in the trailer. The owner stated he did not want him there.
When deputies knocked on the trailer, the man said he would not come out. Deputies learned about active warrants from Union County for the man identified as 39-year-old Chris Carl Lee of Crouse.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies left the scene and went to the magistrate’s office in Lincolnton to get a search warrant. Returning to the site, they learned the camper had caught fire, and the man barricaded himself inside.
When firefighters arrived, they entered the camper and pulled the man out. A Lincoln County fire official said the man had “self-medicated” and could not leave the trailer. The fire was small and contained within minutes.
The man suffered severe burns in the fire. Emergency personnel took the man to Atrium Health-Lincoln before he was sent to Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center in Winston Salem by aircraft.
UPDATED: Dec. 1 This article was updated to identify Lee as Chris Carl Lee of Crouse.
