KEY POINTS:
Phil Carney has a message for any happy campers intending using gas stoves this summer - ensure there's a fire extinguisher handy and take note of all safety measures, or you might end up ruining everyone's fun.
"I apologise to the people whose day I screwed up," the
45-year-old said from his bed in Waikato Hospital's burns ward yesterday.
Mr Carney was enjoying the atmosphere at Armistice Day celebrations in Cambridge on Saturday when he went inside his tent to prepare a cup of coffee.
To boil water, he was trying to use a 1950s-style stove that required a pump to vapourise liquefied gas.
"It runs on lighter fuel - there must have been 700-800ml of it."
He had never used the stove before.
"Maybe I refilled it when it was not completely extinguished, maybe the pipes were still hot enough to light the flame."
Whatever went wrong, an "almighty explosion" suddenly broke out and he found himself transformed into a human fireball.
Frantic, he ran outside into the crowded area with his hair, cotton shirt and woollen kilt all alight.
"You don't tend to be that co-ordinated when you're engulfed by flames and fearing for your life. I thought I was a goner."
Luckily bystanders acted quickly, using blankets and water to quell the flames.
Waikato's top firefighter, Roy Breeze, was also on hand and issued instructions, and a qualified nurse who happened to be nearby took charge of the first-aid.
"The lads just jumped on me. There were a lot of people who sprang to action and I'm infinitely grateful for that."
Initially admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, Mr Carney has burns to up to 30 per cent of his body.
His hands, lower arms and chest are the areas of worst damage.
Skin grafts have been taken from his upper thigh and placed on his chest.
His face is scorched, although nurses say the burns there are superficial and should only result in minimal scarring, if any.
But the effects of a burns victim are clear: A fan sits on Mr Carney's bedside table blowing cool air over his face.
Occasionally he shakes, jaws chattering, as though he has a chill.
His bandages seep, and nurses regularly come to change them. As he speaks yet another nurse arrives and uses a cotton bud to apply a thin yellow substance over much of his face. He appears to tire easily, but his brother Jack and father Brian keep a close watch over him.
He will be in hospital for at least another week.
The Papamoa father-of-one was camping at the Cambridge festival with six like-minded colleagues who share a passion for New Zealand's military history.
They were all dressed up as members of the armed constabulary of the 1860s, but some were also members of the Black Powder Club, a group that uses antique rifles as part of live exhibitions.
"We are into flintlocks and muskets."
It was fortunate there was no gunpowder near the tent when the explosion went off, Mr Carney said.
