Burned boy OK’d to return home

ELLSWORTH – A local boy seriously burned last month when another Ellsworth High School student allegedly set his Halloween costume on fire is expected to return home today from a Boston hospital.

Donald Awalt, 14, has been in Brigham and Women’s Hospital since Oct. 30, when he was consumed in a flame during a costume contest in the high school gymnasium, according to student witnesses.

Lucas White, 15, of Otis is accused of holding a cigarette lighter to Awalt’s costume moments before Awalt’s body was covered in flames. White has been charged with arson, elevated aggravated assault and aggravated assault.

Earl “Buzzy” Awalt, Donald’s grandfather, said Thursday during a phone interview from Donald’s hospital room that doctors had given Donald approval to return home. Earl Awalt and his wife, Lorraine Awalt, are the boy’s legal guardians.

“They say he’s going home,” Earl Awalt said.

Awalt said he, his wife and his grandson would take a charter flight from Boston to the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton, with an approximate arrival time of 2 p.m.

The boy, who also suffers from diabetes, was flown by helicopter to Boston hours after the incident, then admitted in critical condition to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The next day his condition improved to serious, and in a couple more days it improved to good, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Most of the boy’s burn injuries were on the backs of his legs and his buttocks, hampering his mobility, according to Earl Awalt. Though Donald is getting better, his therapy is difficult.

“He hurts and it is painful, but that’s part of his therapy,” he said. Healing from skin grafts is painful because new skin tries to shrink, Awalt said the doctors have told him.

The hospital will help arrange Donald’s home care and will make sure he has the materials and equipment he needs to help him get better, Awalt said.

“A nurse will be in every day, and a physical therapist will be in every day” to see Donald as part of his home care, he said.

On Thursday morning, signs made from bright-colored pieces of paper were visible in the yard of the Awalts’ Washington Street home.

“Welcome home, Donald. We love you,” read one.

“We have missed you, Donald!” read another.

Meanwhile, White is scheduled to appear Jan. 9 in District Court for a juvenile trial.

Earl Awalt has said that during the schoolwide assembly, at which all of the school staff and students were present, Donald twice deflected White’s attempts to set his costume on fire. On the third try, White succeeded, Awalt has said. Donald had worked on his costume, that of a camouflaged military sniper, for six months.

The fire was put out after Donald jumped from the bleachers and rolled around on the gymnasium floor as other students beat out the flames with parts of their costumes.

After the incident, White spent three days at a juvenile detention facility in Charleston, then was released by order of a judge to the custody of his father and stepmother.

White’s attorney, Chris Largay of Bangor, has said his client has not been attending classes since the incident and instead is being home-schooled by his stepmother.

Attempts Wednesday and Thursday to contact Largay were unsuccessful.