Posted on 07/11/2024 7:14:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
A Gillette 18-year-old who had a bucket of gasoline in a car was burned early Wednesday morning. After gas had sloshed out of the bucket inside the car, a teen lit it on fire thinking it would burn off the spilled gas but not damage the car.
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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.
Point of order:
Saying no one can be this stupid is actually a challenge to stupid people and
Yes, they can be. They really can be this stupid..
Stop drop and roll works. Guess how I know?
“Darwin Award contender?”
Nope.
Just another situation that is impossible for a parent to issue a warning like, “If you ever put gas in a bucket in your car for a bonfire and it spills in the car, don’t use a match to get rid of it!”
“Darwin Award”
Nope and nope.
I stand corrected. These people really ARE that stupid, and I suspect there might even be people around, who are more stupid, than these clowns.
In the late 1940s, in the village of Burgess, IL, there was a repair shop called,...wait for it,.. Burgess Garage.
One day the owner was soldering a radiator crack on a model A Ford. But somehow he caught the greasy engine on fire. The customer was standing near the garage door, and quickly grabbed what thought was a bucket full of water and tossed it on the car engine....
Yep, it was gasoline, and the place burned to ground. The men escaped with minor burns.
(I was born about 6 years after that happened, grew up a mile from there, but heard the story from my great uncle, who was standing outside the garage talking to another farmer, and saw the inside of that garage instantly become a huge blaze)
That’s dumb. There’s no way just holding a zippo up to the port will let you see how much gas is in there. You have to drop a match INTO the tank to get enough light to see that. Sheesh!
I was about three when I tried to stick the car keys into a socket.
My mother screamed.
My Dad said, “No. let him. It will teach him a lesson.”
That’s how I got my first nickname…..Sparky.
Just graduated from public school.
Obviously didn’t learn anything..................
“police have classified the incident as an arson investigation.”
Well, if they don’t claim insurance, it can’t be an arson issue.
Darwin’s theory still is working.
Along with all the other things that can be said, some parents sure failed to teach their sons about one of the most common and obvious dangers people might encounter.
Gee is there a video of this idiocy posted on Tik Tok?
My guess is that it was one of those instant, unthinking impulse actions that young males are so good at, especially at night when the brain is a little foggy from dope and booze.
You can find videos of idiots burning themselves up with gasoline every day.
As we used to say “You can make something foolproof, but you can’t make it damned fool-proof.
Glad you were not seriously burned!
I watched a boy scout pour white gas on a campfire one time. Almost got him, but not quite, fortunately.
He should have been taught better!
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