The picture with the hair on my wrist is where my new Apple watch was sitting so it protected what was underneath. The worst burns were on my fingers where the nasty blister was and my fingertips were completely burnt pale white. These pictures are from day 2 – after they bandaged me up at the hospital, I went to a burn unit the next day in Springfield. I had the piece of mind to shut the gas off and run into the house and begin showering my arms off while my lovely wife Karrie soaked towels so we could get to the hospital – the pictures above are the initial hospital intake pictures. At this point, my shirt was on fire (Nike Dry Fit burns quick) and I had second and third degree burns on my arms and left hand. For those that don’t know natural gas is lighter than air so it tends to dissipate quickly, but if it doesn’t then it burns around 1163 degrees F.

I opened the grill hood for what seemed like a fair amount of time, didn’t smell any gas, and hit the ignitor…much to my surprise there was apparently a lot of gas pooled in the grill. Upon my return I noticed that the burners had blown out (which is not uncommon with the wind). I started the grill and walked away to help Karrie and the girls shuck corn out in the prairie. It just so happens that it was very windy that day and it was also very humid. On Wednesday June 3rd we decided to cook hot dogs out in the evening. For those that are curious what a natural gas fireball can do to one’s body – here you go: First for those of you that don’t like to see pictures of burns – please exit now.

Great fire ball