Burned partygoer fights for life

By TONY WALL

A Merrill Lynch worker whose Hawaiian fancy dress costume caught fire at his firm's Christmas party is fighting for his life in Middlemore Hospital.

Doctors at the hospital's burns unit last night listed the 24-year-old's condition as critical.

The man's synthetic grass skirt caught fire at the sharebroking firm's Christmas Party at Quay West Hotel just after midnight on Friday.

It is understood that a cigarette lighter caused the fire.

A woman at the party was also burned.

Customer services representative Angela Offwood, aged 29, from West Auckland, suffered serious burns to her hands, arms, stomach and face when her costume caught fire.

Her condition is not thought to be life-threatening.

It is understood that the man's entire costume, which is believed to have contained plastic, went up in flames in a toilet area in the hotel's function centre on the fifth floor.

The heat of the fire set off the hotel's sprinkler system, automatically alerting the Fire Service.

Firefighters arrived to find a chaotic scene, senior station officer Barry Fox said.

"The whole thing was pandemonium. There were people crying and trying to look after the burned people and doing what they could for them - they were both in shock."

The man was lying on the toilet floor and was a "bloody mess."

He was still conscious and was able to talk to his friends and firefighters.

"I got one of my men to tend to him and put oxygen on him. He had burns on his face, body, arms and legs - basically his whole body."

Mr Fox suspected the man's nerves had been burned because he did not seem to be in great pain.

He said Mrs Offwood was having water put on her burns in the women's toilet.

The tragedy highlighted the need for people to take care at parties and barbecues where alcohol and fire could be a dangerous mix.

People needed to be aware that fancy dress costumes could be highly flammable.

The director of Middlemore's burns unit, Dr Stephen Mills, who has been treating the critically ill victim, said when a person suffered burns to more than 20 per cent of their body, the entire body was affected.

"All the blood vessels become leaky, so fluid goes from the vessel into tissues. So they need a great amount of fluids to keep their circulation going and as a result become very swollen."

He said a major burn was one of the worst stresses that could be put on a body and there was always bad scarring.

"Some [survivors] are just glad to be alive and are glad of the effort we put in, but some people feel they might not have wanted to survive."

Dr Mills said a recent television campaign had targeted parents to prevent scald burns to children, but everyone needed to be careful.

"A split second changes everything and leads to tragedies."

The managing director of Merrill Lynch, Peter Brook, said the incident happened just as the function was finishing.

"Needless to say, everyone is utterly devastated. Everyone has been supporting each other and certainly we've been providing as much support as we possibly can to the families," he said.

A 26-year-old man appeared in the Auckland District Court on Saturday charged with assault. He was granted name suppression.