NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Autumn Mersereau was just 14 months old when her family’s trailer home in Newport News caught fire.
“My grandfather was watching me while my father took my mother to work,” Mersereau said. “In that short time, he ended up falling asleep with a cigarette and the tragedy happened.”
The fire left Mersereau with third-degree burns on her face and upper body. Now, she lives in Georgia, but felt the time was right to reach out to the Newport News firefighter who carried her out of the burning home. She found him through social media, and on Sept. 1, 25 years later to the day, she spoke to him for the first time…