Boy badly burned after accidental bonfire explosion
By Sarah Robinson
Click here for updates on this story
PRESCOTT, Arizona (KPHO) — A 6-year-old boy is in intensive care after an accidental bonfire explosion at a neighborhood gathering in Prescott left more than half his body covered in second and third-degree burns. The little boy is facing a long and painful road to recovery.
This happened Sunday night. His family says an adult tried to pour gasoline on the fire to make it bigger. But it exploded when they set the gas can down, and Carson caught on fire.
He was rushed to a hospital in Prescott before being flown to Valleywise hospital in Phoenix to be treated in their burn unit. “I got to the hospital, and Carson was in there, and I fell to my knees because he was burnt everywhere. He looked up at me and said, ‘Mommy I’m okay, I’m okay,’” said Chelsea Colvin, Carson’s mother.
Colvin says her life is forever changed. “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,” Colvin said.
Colvin says it’s been a blur. 70% of his body is covered in second and third-degree burns. “When I went back to see him, with tubes and he was wrapped around he was not my Carson. He is very swollen right now. They unwrapped his face, you can see his mouth, his nose, and right now they have his eyes covered so all you can see is right here,” Colvin said.
For the first three days, Carson was in a medically induced coma. Today, he is awake but heavily sedated. “He can’t talk and he does have a lot of pain. He has a lot of pain going on right now. He can shake his head yes,” Colvin said.
Though Carson is expected to recover fully, the road ahead will be long and difficult. “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,” Colvin said.
The woman responsible for this, Colvin says, is 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,” said Colvin.
Now Colvin wants to make sure other parents know proper bonfire safety. “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,” Colvin said.
Carson’s family will be staying here in the valley during his treatment, and they need all the help they can get. Here is a link to their GoFundMe.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
