Barbeque safety warning after nurse ‘nearly burns to death’

A nurse has issued a stark warning about the dangers of fire pits and barbecues after she was almost burned alive in a garden accident that left her skin ‘melting’ off.

Emma Colwell, 45, from Cheshire, had been sitting outside with her husband Andrew and a friend when the group decided to light the fire pit as the sun went down.

Having used it safely all summer, and knowing to keep her distance from open flames, Mrs Colwell stood several metres away as her husband poured lighter fuel into the bowl.

The mother-of-two turned to pull on her cardigan—just as a sudden gust of wind blew the flammable liquid towards her, igniting her clothes in an instant.

‘I just panicked and ran into the house—I was literally on fire,’ she said. 

‘I was ripping all my clothes off, and then my nursing head kicked in. I jumped on the couch and started rubbing my back.

‘My husband kept turning me over, trying to put the flames out.’

Eventually, the flames subsided enough for Mr Colwell to carry his wife upstairs to the shower as the house began to fill with smoke. 

‘I looked down and saw skin all over the bath. I was in a state of shock,’ she said. 

But just moments later the nurse was roused from her shock-induced state as her husband came back to rescue her from their quickly burning home. 

‘I thought I was standing at the end of the drive shouting for help, but afterwards people told me nothing was coming out. 

‘They said my skin was melting off and the reality hit me: my life was never going to be the same again.’ 

Ms Colwell was then rushed to Whiston Hospital where she was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with third-degree burns to her back, legs and arms. 

At this stage, all three layers of skin—epidermis, dermis and subcutis—are damaged, leaving tissue exposed.

Almost 30 per cent of the nurse’s body had been damaged by the fire, leaving her in excruciating pain.

She remembers speaking to her friends and family who told her that it was really ‘touch and go’. 

‘We didn’t know if Emma was going to make it,’ her husband added. 

After undergoing ten skin grafts over the course of a month, Ms Colwell was finally discharged from hospital but unable to return home given the extensive fire damage. 

‘We lost everything’, she said. ‘But I just knew I couldn’t let it beat me. Now I have good days and bad days where I worry about further surgeries. 

‘I never thought anything like this would happen to me. It happened in the click of a finger and I could have died. So now I live every day like it’s my last. 

‘It made me aware of who and what’s important in my life not taking anything for granted.’

Now the nurse—who has since fitted her home with fire extinguishers—is urging people to stay vigilant around fires and barbecues especially as the weather gets warmer. 

She says: ‘If you’re going to get a fire pit, get a log burners or one that’s enclosed.’ 

However, some experts disagree that wood-burning stoves are the safer option. 

Earlier this week experts warned that log-burners could be behind a host of serious health conditions. 

These included heart disease, lung cancer and even damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and nervous system.

This is because log-burners release pollutants such as ultrafine particles, fine particulate matter, black carbon and carbon monoxide. 

It is estimated that 3.2million people die prematurely each year globally due to household air pollution due to incomplete fuel combustion—including 237,000 children under the age of five.