PORT ANGELES — A 22-year-old Port Angeles resident who received second- and third-degree burns to the face and right hand said today a night of drinking beer with some of his friends got out of hand.
Nelson Blewett said they were taking turns spraying each other with spray deodorant and igniting it at a home about two miles east of Port Angeles.
But contrary to a fire department report Tuesday, it wasn’t a game of tag, he said.
He received the serious burns when someone squirted lighter fluid on him after he lighted the deodorant, he said.
Blewett said he jumped from the second-story porch and rolled on the ground to put out the fire.
“I think he [who squirted the lighter fluid] didn’t think it would be as bad as it turned out to be,” Blewett said.
“Inebriation probably played a bit.”
His girlfriend, who Blewett declined to identify, said the flames lasted for about 30-45 seconds.
Clallam County Fire District No. 2 volunteers transferred Blewett to Olympic Medical Center, where he was released at 4 a.m. Tuesday. Tuesday’s fire department news release erroneously said he was taken to a hospital in Seattle.
Because of the burns, one of his fingers is completely blistered, and he is missing much of the skin on the rest of his hand.
Blewett said he is taking pain medication.
Blewett said he won’t play with fire again and wants his burns to be a lesson for children.
“I don’t want kids to think it’s fun to have people on fire,” he said.
“This is excruciating.”
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
