Man hurt in boat inferno in stable condition

A Reporoa man suffered extensive burns to his body when a boat he was filling with petrol burst into flames.

A Reporoa man seriously burned after a boat he was filling with petrol burst into flames is in a stable condition in hospital.

The man, in his 40s, was with a few friends filling up the boat at the Gull Service Station in Paengaroa when the boat exploded into flames at 4.30pm on Friday.

He suffered serious burns to most of his body and was flown to Waikato Hospital by rescue helicopter.

A hospital spokesperson yesterday said the man was in a stable condition and was recovering in a ward.

"The nozzle went into the rod holder instead of the fuel tank. Following that there was an ignition and explosion," Gull New Zealand general manager Dave Bodger said.

Mr Bodger said the station had been closed for several hours for specialist contractors to determine the cause of the incident but was now open.

They had not been able to conclude what had sparked the fire and would try and determine the cause in following days, he said.

"The fire was on the boat rather than anything at the service station so in the end it was a matter of a remedial check and a nozzle change and everything was back to normal.

"I've got several theories but I want to look at some footage, discuss more with the people who were on site and chat with my team before then [making a decision]."

Maketu fire chief Shane Beech said it was only thanks to the quick thinking of the man's friends that the whole petrol station did not go up in flames.

They pulled the man out of the burning boat, towed it across the road to an empty gravel area and unhooked it from the car while emergency services were on their way. Firefighters were called and arrived to find the 8.25m aluminium boat fully engulfed in flames.

The boat's owner, from Taupo, said he was inside waiting to pay for the petrol when the fire broke out.

He raced outside and pulled his friend from the boat so service station attendants could hose him down to keep him cool until emergency services arrived.

It took firefighters about 15 minutes to put out the fire.

Mr Beech said he was not sure how the fire started.

"It could have been electrical ignition or anything in the boat," he said. "The boat's completely written off."

Underfloor tanks needed to be well ventilated to prevent such instances while filling up, especially in hot weather, Mr Beech said.