Woman Is Critically Burned at Barbecue : Gas Can Explodes as She Stokes Flame in Backyard Accident

As her daughter looked on in horror, a 65-year-old Huntington Beach woman was critically burned Wednesday when she stoked a burning backyard barbecue with gasoline, causing the can to explode and douse her with flaming fuel.

Birgit Davis, a spokeswoman for the Huntington Beach Fire Department, said the victim, Janis Mary Zangger, might have suffered less severe burns had she put the fire out with a “stop, drop and roll” technique. Instead, Davis said, the woman ran to her garage and was reduced to crawling before she found an old blanket to roll up in.

Neighbors who heard the can explode--and the woman’s daughter screaming for help--rendered first aid before paramedics arrived.

Zangger was in critical condition Thursday at UCI Medical Center in Orange, where she was being treated for second- and third-degree burns over 55% of her body. Zangger was burned mostly from the waist down, according to Suzie Martinez, nurse manager of the UCI Burn Center.

In the wake of the explosion, fire officials Thursday warned of the dangers of dousing burning coals with either gasoline or lighter fluid, stating that either method of refueling dying charcoals should be done only when the briquets are cold.

Davis said that Carolyn Banco, 44, of Sherman Oaks had admonished her mother for pouring gasoline over the smoldering charcoal. Zangger moved back from the barbecue, gave the gas can one last squirt and it exploded, instantly engulfing the woman in flames.

Less than an hour after Zangger was burned, Davis said, a Fountain Valley man pouring starter fluid on his barbecue charcoals narrowly escaped injury when he tossed the container holding the flammable liquid just before it burst into flames.