Dad goes up in flames after DIY fire disaster
THIS is the astonishing moment a dad goes up in flames as a DIY garden fire goes disastrously wrong.
CCTV cameras captured the terrifying instant Scott Buckley turned into a human fireball after pouring paint thinners onto wood he was burning.
Remarkably Scott, a dad-of-two from Shawclough, escaped with only minor burns to his legs.
The builder and businessman, known to pals as ‘Bucko’, described the incident as ‘the most stupid thing I’ve ever done.’
Scott and his mate Jon Glennon were burning timber left over from some DIY they had been doing ●●These stills from CCTV footage show (left) Scott Buckley pouring paint thinners onto wood he was burning in his back garden, (centre) the fireball it causes and (right) Scott fleeing the scene in flames in his back garden when they decided to use an old tin of paint thinner to get the fire started.
But as they poured the highly-flammable solution on the blaze the tin explodes.
As flames shoot 15ft into the air Scott, 43, can be seen, his back and legs alight, running away from the fire in the video.
He told the Observer: “It just went off like a bomb. The tin exploded and hit the garage and the flames just went right up my legs and back.
“I ran away from the fire and shouted at Jon ‘Put me out, put me out’ and he just shouted back ‘Bucko, drop and roll’, so that’s what I did.
“It went straight through my hoody and straight through the teeshirt underneath, but luckily I had a cotton tee shirt under that and that didn’t burn. If I hadn’t had so many layers on it would have been so much worse. I would have been in the burns units at Wythenshawe hospital, definitely.
“Bloody hell, it was scary. It was far and away the most stupid thing I’ve ever done in my life - and I’ve done some pretty stupid things.”
Now Scott is warning others to be wary of the dangers of paint thinners.
He said: “I didn’t realise the thinners would be so flammable. It was so volatile, I couldn’t believe it.
“My nine-year-old son has seen the footage and he just said ‘Dad, you’re an idiot’.
“It’s like a health and safety video showing the wrong way to start a fire.
“I was so lucky. This should be a warning to everyone.”