MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A 5-year-old boy is in the ICU at Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston after 67 percent of his body was burned in an accident that involved gasoline.
Christian Cormier, Ayden Cromier's mother spoke with Local 2's Jace Larson.
"I was going to start the fire for kids and told them to hold on, that I was going to use rest room," she said. "I was going to start the fire with just a lighter and paper, not gasoline. I had no clue there was a gas can outside. They are always put up. I went in to use the restroom and while I was coming back out I heard and ran out and seen him on fire. I did everything possible to put him out. I was panicked and still am. I'm lost, hurt, confused and heartbroken. One mistake of five minutes can go wrong and I deeply regret going in."
The accident happened at a house west of Willis on the 12500 block of Willow Drive near Farm to Market Road 1097.
Authorities said Ayden had been with his brothers and sisters and then he was playing with a lighter and gasoline.
"Most of the burns are in the front of his body. Some of it involves the respiratory tract as well," Montgomery County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams said. "Neighbors reported hearing an explosion and then saw the small child running. His clothes were on fire."
A hospital spokesman said the boy suffered from second- and third-degree burns. The burn scale goes from one to four with high numbers signaling more serious burns.
Investigators were initially told that the family was planning to light a bonfire. Investigators briefly talked to the boy's mother, who was home at the time of the accident. They didn't spend much time talking to her because she needed to get to the hospital, Williams told investigative reporter Jace Larson.
He said gasoline can cause flammable vapors that are often invisible.
"Back where they were trying to light the fire, there's practically no breeze. Those vapors are going to pool. If you pour that gasoline, within just a couple of minutes you can have a significant vapor cloud that you're not going to see. You could be 10 or 15 feet away. You strike a match or a lighter and those flames are going flash back to you from that vapor cloud," Williams said.
The hospital where Ayden was taken is well known for treating young burn victims.
Many patients with similar second- and third-degree burns will usually spend about two months in a typical hospital's ICU, hospital spokesman Dustin Johnson said. Shriners Hospitals for Children's patients often spend half as much time in ICU, he said.
Patients then undergo months of therapy and rehab.