A mother and her 10-year-old son were burned Wednesday in a garage fire at their home on Tucson's northwest side, authorities said.
Northwest Fire District firefighters were dispatched to the 5200 block of North Whispering Hills Lane shortly after 8 p.m., said Capt. Adam Goldberg, a fire district spokesman.
The neighborhood is east of North La CaÃąada Drive and north of West Roller Coaster Road.
The woman and boy were already outside the home. Paramedics treated the 32-year-old woman and the boy, and took them to Banner-University Medical Center Tucson, Goldberg said.
Both were in stable condition, said Goldberg. He said the woman suffered minor burns, and the boy suffered moderate burns.Â
The fire damage was largely contained to the garage. Firefighters stopped the flames before they entered the house, said Goldberg. The house had smoke damage.
Investigators determined that the cause of the fire was flammable vapors too close to an ignition source, said Goldberg. He said the woman and her son were in the closed garage and were filling a generator with gasoline.
The generator was stored too close to the home's gas water heater, and the heater was missing the cover plate to the open flame, which heats the water heater's tank, said Goldberg.
The vapors from the gasoline reached the open flame of the heater and caused a flash fire, which spread to the rest of the garage, Goldberg said.
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