The victim of a Wednesday afternoon fire remains on life support and was transferred to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill, his nephew said.

Justin Davis said in an earlier interview with rrspin today his uncle, David Nowell, suffered burns to his face when he was apparently smoking while on oxygen.

The family has not begun to assess what Nowell needs as far as material possessions in the aftermath of the fire, which occurred shortly before 5 p.m. in a mobile home park on Colonial Drive outside Roanoke Rapids. “Basically, just prayer,” he said in the earlier interview.

Nowell was in poor medical condition and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his nephew said. “He had a lot of breathing problems. We kept telling him he has got to quit smoking.”

The fire gutted the trailer.