A six-year-old Hamilton boy is recovering from serious burns after falling into a fire pit while camping with his family at Whitewater Memorial State Park in Indiana. Cohen Jeffers was tossing a football near the pit when he fell in, suffering burns to his fingers, a leg near the knee, and his buttocks.
The accident happened on Labor Day weekend, after the Jeffers family left one of Cohen's football games to head to the park for a family reunion, according to WKRC. Cohen's mother, Kylie Jeffers, described watching her son in pain as “absolutely terrifying.” His father, Logan Jeffers, said the family is thankful there was not an actual fire burning in the pit at the time, though the pit still contained smoldering embers and hot wood.
That distinction matters more than it might seem. According to the American Burn Association, roughly 70% of campfire burn injuries are caused by hot embers and coals rather than active flames, since fire pits can retain temperatures hot enough to inflict severe burns for up to 12 hours after being extinguished. The Jeffers family's experience lines up with a broader pattern documented in a 2023 retrospective study published on PMC, which found that 59.5% of pediatric fire pit burns happen when children fall directly into the pit, with hands and lower extremities among the most frequently injured body areas.
Rushed Across State Lines for Emergency Care
After Cohen was pulled from the fire pit, his family called 911, and an ambulance transported him to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Ohio. The hospital sits roughly 13 miles from the Indiana park, making it the nearest acute-care emergency facility available across the state line, per TriHealth. McCullough-Hyde is a 52-bed acute-care facility within the TriHealth system that serves about 80,000 patients annually across rural Butler, Preble, and Union counties spanning both Ohio and Indiana.
A doctor examined Cohen the day after the accident, and his injuries included second-degree burns on his buttocks along with what was described as a nearly third-degree burn on his leg. Under American Burn Association clinical guidelines, as outlined by Mayo Clinic, second-degree burns covering more than 10% of total body surface area, or burns affecting major joints, hands, or feet, meet the standard threshold physicians use when deciding whether a pediatric patient needs transfer to a specialized burn center. For the most severe pediatric burn cases in the region, patients are typically sent to Shriners Children's Ohio, a burn center verified by the American Burn Association that operates inside Dayton Children's Hospital after relocating its regional unit from Cincinnati in 2021.
An Active Kid Sidelined From the Field
Cohen, described by his family as having a strong passion for sports, is now out of school and off the football field while he heals. Kylie Jeffers said the family is working to keep their normally active six-year-old from moving around too much as his burns recover. A GoFundMe has been started to help the family during Cohen's recovery.
Cohen's case is a reminder of the risks children face around campfires and fire pits.
A Recognized National Hazard
Fire pits can be dangerous for children. Cohen's injuries also show why children should be kept away from active or smoldering fire pits.
Cohen's case joins a string of recent fire pit injuries Hoodline has covered this season, including an Evanston father's recovery story. The recurring incidents underscore how quickly a seemingly dormant fire pit can turn dangerous, especially for young children drawn to play near the warmth of dying embers.
