A six-year-old boy suffered second and third degree burns over more than half his body after a bonfire accidentally exploding during a gathering he was attending in Prescott, Arizona.
According to family, the boy, Carson, was at the neighbor’s house when an adult at the gathering poured gasoline on the flames. When they set the gas can down the fire exploded and Carson caught on fire.
Carson was transported to a local hospital before being flown to a burn unit in Phoenix. When his mother Chelsea Colvin arrived and saw her son for the first time she said she “fell to my knees because he was burnt everywhere.”
“He looked up at me and said, ‘Mommy I’m okay, I’m okay.’”
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“He went up to a neighbor’s house and they were having a bonfire and I guess she went to go pour gasoline into the fire and it went back into the gas tank and it blew up and it ended up blowing up all over him because he was close by,” Chelsea said.
For the first three days Carson was in a medically induced coma.
“His worst are his arms, legs, toes and feet, and his chest on his left side. His left side got the worst,” his mother said. “He’s had three surgeries so far. He has a surgery [on April 14], and he’ll be getting a [tracheostomy] in his throat.”
While doctors anticipate a full recovery, Chelsea knows it will take her son a long time to get better.
He’s expected to stay in the hospital for three months.
“We can’t predict it because there could be infections, sickness, we can’t just know that he is going to be okay. He will be here for months, for months. So I will be here for months. I won’t leave, I don’t want to leave.”
Officials do not suspect foul play, and Chelsea said the neighbor responsible for the accident is considered a friend.
“It was a neighbor. She watches the kids sometimes for my ex-husband. But she loves my kids and I don’t think any of this was on purpose or anything like that.”
On top of making sure her child recovers, Chelsea wants to remind others about being safe around bonfires.
“Just don’t use gasoline on a fire. Don’t be around propane, just make sure you are aware of all your surroundings, make sure the children are safe.”
Please, please, please be careful when sitting around a bonfire. And never ever use gasoline on a fire.
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