Note to self: No smoking while siphoning gas

By KATU.com Staff Published: Jan 2, 2010 at 3:59 PM PST Last Updated: Jan 3, 2010 at 6:21 PM PST
gas cap cover »Play Video
A locked gas cover such as this may have helped avoid an unfortunate New Year's Day fire in Kelso that burned a Kelso teen.

KELSO, Wash. – A horrible story of New Year's Day hooliganism gone wrong comes to us out of Kelso.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office reports that around 1:30 a.m. a 17-year-old Kelso juvenile boy was hospitalized with serious burns to his chest while attempting to siphon gas from a neighbor's car. The car was parked at 113 Alpha Drive in Kelso.  

While siphoning, the teen reportedly lit a cigarette. The gas fumes ignited, and quickly spread. Local Fire and Rescue Lieutenant Jason Sanders said the boy suffered first- and second-degree burns over 30 percent of his body during the incident early Friday.

Deputies reports that the juvenile did not have permission to take gas from the car, and so criminal charges are pending. 

The 17 year old was transported to St. John Medical Center in Longview, Wash.,  to treat the burns on his pelvis, hands and feet.