An 18-year-old man was badly burned after he transported a bucket of old gasoline to a bonfire overnight Tuesday and his friend lit some gas that had spilled from the bucket, police in Gillette, Wyoming, report.
Gillette Police Department officers responded to the intersection of North Burma and West 4th avenues at midnight as Tuesday turned to Wednesday for a report of a vehicle on fire, GPD Deputy Chief Brent Wasson told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
There, the officers found an 18-year-old male who’d been burned in the fire.
He was taken to Campbell County Health and was still being treated as of midday Wednesday, Wasson said.
A Bucket Of Gas
The investigation indicates that a 17-year-old male was driving his friends to Northwest Park. The friends included the 18-year-old male, two 17-year-old females and a 20-year-old female, Wasson said.
The 18-year-old male reportedly sat in the car, holding a bucket of old gasoline between his feet as they rode to the park. The teens’ plan was to have a bonfire when they got there, Wasson related from the report.
A bonfire would have been illegal, he noted, because of current fire restrictions.
Some of the gasoline spilled from the bucket and probably on the 18-year-old’s clothing as well, Wasson said.
Once the 17-year-old parked the car, he lit the spilled gasoline on fire, “believing it would burn off the gasoline but preserve the surface of the seat,” said Wasson.
The flames engulfed the Mustang, he added.
The 18-year-old removed his T-shirt and tried to smother the blaze with it, said Wasson. But his shirt caught on fire, causing the burns.
“It appears that the rest of his clothing also ignited,” the deputy chief said, adding that an investigation is underway and police have classified the incident as an arson investigation.
The damage to the car amounted to about $2,500, said Wasson.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
