Greene County Trustee Dan Walker, who was seriously burned in a Monday evening accident on his George Malone Road property, continues to be treated at a North Carolina burn center.

Walker, who has served as Trustee since 1986, was listed in serious condition at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., this morning, according to a hospital spokesman. "He's had an upgrade," the spokesman said.

On Tuesday, Walker had been listed in critical condition at the same hospital.

Greene County Sheriff Steve Burns said Tuesday night he had driven, with several other county officials, to visit Walker at the burn center and was encouraged after speaking with Walker.

"I was well pleased after I talked to him," Burns said by cell phone about 10 p.m. Tuesday as he and County Attorney Roger Woolsey, County Road Superintendent David Weems and Greene County Planning Commission Chairman Jimmy Carter were en route back to Greeneville.

Burns said the distance from Greeneville to the burn center in Winston-Salem, N.C., is about 200 miles.

Beth McNeese, Walker's daughter, said by telephone on Tuesday afternoon from the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, that her father, 62, suffered third-degree burns over 37 percent of his body.

He was burned when an all-terrain vehicle he was using in an attempt to drag a tree into a burning brush pile overturned, threw him backward into the fire and came to rest on top of him.

Walker was attempting to use the all-terrain vehicle to move the wild cherry tree, she said, because his chainsaw had stopped running and he had been unable to saw the tree into smaller sections.

In the process, she said, Walker suffered serious burns to his back, the backs of both arms and the back of his head.

McNeese said on Tuesday afternoon that doctors had told the Walker family that Walker could remain in the burn center for as much as two months.

Walker is scheduled to undergo surgery on Thursday in preparation for undergoing skin grafts, she said.

She noted that Walker was alert and had been able to stand and work with physical therapists on Tuesday.

McNeese said Walker had been flown from Laughlin Memorial Hospital, where he was initially treated on Monday night, to the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., by a Wings Air Rescue helicopter.

McNeese said that she, her husband, Aaron McNeese, and Walker's girlfriend, Starr Bewley, had driven to Winston-Salem, beginning at about 1 a.m. Tuesday to be with Walker.

"We can stay with him for all but two hours each day," McNeese said.

She said she wished to thank everyone for "all the calls and prayers" on her father's behalf.

McNeese said Walker was injured sometime between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday while burning brush on his property.

Walker, McNeese said, was initially trapped in a burning brush pile beneath his overturned all-terrain vehicle, but managed to escape. But by that time, she said, he had suffered serious burns.

At that point, McNeese said, her father managed to use his cell phone to call his sister, Zan, at her Baileyton Road home.

Zan Walker, McNeese said, then drove to Walker's farm and managed to locate Walker, who was attempting to walk to safety.

"He had walked pretty far by the time she found him," McNeese said of her father.

Walker's sister then rushed him directly to Laughlin Memorial Hospital, McNeese said.

According to Deputy Trustee Maxine Carter, the Greene County Trustee Office will operate on its normal schedule.