Hidden embers at Baylys Beach burn 6-year-old Northland girl

Adele Meurant, 6, puts on a brave face as she recovers from her burns.

Warning: Contains graphic image.

A typical day at the beach had an agonising end for a 6-year-old Northland girl severely burned after she fell on to embers buried under sand.

Adele Meurant‘s mother Alesha Thorn is calling on beachgoers to make sure their fires are properly put out.

“It was a horrific end to what should have been a nice morning in the sand,” Thorn said.

She and her four children had met up with a friend and their two kids on Sunday morning to enjoy some time at their local Baylys Beach.

The group found what they thought was a nice, safe spot to play and was near the entrance of the west coast beach, popular with dog walkers, off-roaders, and Kaipara families.

“We put down our things and five minutes later she’s chased a ball through the sand and come up to us with literally skin coming off her arm,” Thorn said.

Adele had tripped less than 3m away and had fallen on to embers hidden beneath the beach’s black sand.

Her fall ruffled the sand, revealing a burned piece of wood from a fire believed to have been lit the night before.

“There was no smell of smoke, there was nothing,” Thorn said.

Adele was hyperventilating from the pain.

“But not screaming,” Thorn said.

The skin had immediately fallen from the pinky-side of the youngster’s wrist on her right arm.

Thorn said the large second-degree burn had been like an open sore. First-degree burns had tracked up to her elbow.

Adele Meurant's right hand arm (inset) received a second degree burn when she tripped onto buried embers at Baylys Beach (pictured). Photo / NZ Herald, supplied

“While it was really horrific on her arm, it could have been so much worse,” Thorn said. “She had char on her knees, she had char [on] other places.”

The families quickly got out their drink bottles and Thorn used them to pour water on Adele’s arm as they rushed to their vehicles parked near the entrance.

Thorn had been astounded by her daughter’s tenacity, as Adele turned down the offers to be carried and instead opted to walk most of the way.

“I wouldn’t be able to walk through that,” Thorn said.

She poured water on Adele’s arm the entire trek back.

The family raced to a friend’s home nearby to grab a bowl of water to submerge Adele’s arm during the 15-minute dash to Dargaville Hospital.

Thorn considered phoning for an ambulance but said a family member last week had experienced a two-hour wait. She did not want to chance it.

The family pulled up in the ambulance loading bay at the hospital, where staff took over.

Thorn was incredibly grateful a doctor happened to be on-site visiting another patient.

Dargaville Hospital had been running some shifts without a doctor on the premises since last July, meaning nurses worked with a telehealth service instead.

Thorn praised hospital staff for quickly helping Adele, who had begun to scream from pain and was “freaking out”.

While Adele’s bandaged wounds were healing, Thorn‘s anger still simmered.

“If you want to go and light fires why aren’t you doing that in a more secluded area where it’s not going to affect other people?”

Thorn said doing so within close proximity to the beach’s entrance put many people and pets at risk.

More so, she said, if you’re lighting a fire take a bucket and use water to extinguish it properly.

“People think covering it is an innocent, helpful thing when actually it is not. If we can’t see, we can get hurt with it.”

Thorn warned other local beachgoers on social media, where she learned locals had been putting out fires left to burn and tidying up other hidden dangers such as broken bottles and nails.

People are able to light outdoor fires at Baylys Beach without a permit but are required to follow safety requirements.

They include having a suitable means to extinguish the fire within easy reach and a maximum of 5m away, and not leaving fires unattended.