Wendy/Darwin says, "I'm not sure whether to scoop up--or reject--this submission. It seems to be more a cautionary tale, than a funny story. All he was doing was standing there with a cigarette, pumping gas. It's very much like someone falling asleep smoking in bed--dumb, but an easy mistake to make. It just doesn't strike me as funny. But why not? This guy climbs out of his car with a cigarette in his mouth, and starts filling up a gas can. How dumb is that? I'm on the fence about this."

Smoker Catches Fire At Gas Station Man Burned Over 80 Percent Of Body

POSTED: 11:22 am PDT June 11, 2009

HOUSTON -- A man was critically injured when he caught fire at a southwest Harris County gas station on Tuesday. Harris County sheriff's deputies said the man was smoking while filling a gas can at a Conoco station, KPRC-TV in Houston reported.

"He was smoking. He dropped the cigarette and he dropped the containers and he was on fire," witness Ali Monsoor said. Witnesses said the man threw the can away from him when he caught fire, but the motion made things worse.

The manager of the gas station grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the flames out. "He was on fire … he was burning," manager Noor Ali said.

"He was burned over a considerable portion of his body," said Capt. Andrew Hawthorne with the Community Volunteer Fire Department. The 39-year-old man suffered second- and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body, investigators said. He was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital. His name was not released.

"The bystanders did a good job of putting the fire out," Hawthorne said.

"I feel sorry for the guy, but ignorance has no shame," witness Lawrence Dwight said. "When you do ignorant things, there's consequence behind ignorant things."

The incident was caught on surveillance video. The tape has not yet been released. No one else was injured in the fire.

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Submitted on 06/11/2009

Submitted by: Barbara Ruhmann
Reference: Internet Broadcasting 6-11-09

Copyright © 2009 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
I know gasoline-related incidents are borderline too common, but the stupidity here is SO blatant I have to vote to keep it. We usually get stories about people who are smoking while in the proximity of gas, but this fellow was filling a ghas can, where the chance of spillage is so much greater. That, and it was pretty cartoony with no one but the victim injured. We'll see what my fellow mods thinh.

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
I agree with James. This guy went above and beyond the call of stupidity. Thanks, Barbara!

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