Sarina man Nigel Purcell left with third-degree burns after backyard fuel fire

A Sarina man was left with third-degree burns to his face and blackened hands after a lawn-mowing incident went horrifically wrong. Read what saved him.

A series of small mistakes led to a green-flamed explosion in a Sarina backyard, scarring a Central Queensland miner with third-degree burns to his face.

Nigel Purcell was enjoying his time off work with his fiance Cloe Schultz and their three children when he heard his elderly neighbours starting up their mower early Thursday morning.

Not to be shown up, Mr Purcell got into gear to do his part for the neighbourhood and prepared his own mower for his almost 0.8 hectare Sarina property.

But the Central Queensland mine operator who was trained as an Emergency Response Team Member said a series of small mistakes quickly led to a very near-lethal outcome.

Central Queensland miner Nigel Purcell has been left battling third-degree burns to his face after a lawn-mowing incident gone horrifically wrong.

“I had a 10-litre fuel tank with about two litres of old two-stroke fuel in it that had been sitting around for about a year,” Mr Purcell said.

Mr Purcell had recently weeded his garden and had a one-metre pile of dead grass in his firepit.

“So I thought, two birds one stone — and threw the fuel on it,” he said.

But Mr Purcell said his mind was elsewhere that day, and rather than use a two-metre external lighter like he usually would, he reached down and lit the fire with his hands.

“There was a green flame, it wasn’t even a normal fire — and then boom!” he said.

The flame sprayed over Mr Purcell’s face and hands sending him sprinting for the creek near his home, only to turn back and race for his house for fear of infection.

“It was excruciating,” he said.

“The whole time I was running I felt like I was on fire, but it was just that it had burnt so bad.”

‘I couldn’t lift my face to the water, I just had to let it wash down from the back of my head’. Photo taken about two hours after the accident. Picture: Nigel Purcell.

He finally made it to back to his house and dropped to all fours in the ensuite shower.

“I couldn’t lift my face to the water, I just had to let it wash down from the back of my head,” Mr Purcell said.

Mr Purcell’s fiance later commented to him she could “smell the burnt skin and fuel” as soon as he entered the house.

And while this was all happening — Mr Purcell’s two sons were fighting over an Xbox game.

“[My fiance] was running around trying to get me ice packs and organise an ambulance, so I said bring the boys here,” Mr Purcell said.

“They came and when they saw my face they were instantly quiet.

“My face looks like Freddy Krueger.”

This photo was taken 24 hours after the accident on Thursday, January 6 2022. Picture: Nigel Purcell.

Mr Purcell laughed as he recalled telling his boys “don’t play with fire”.

The father was later taken to Mackay Base Hospital where he was informed he had lost nerve endings in his lips, nose and part of his chin and nearly sent to Brisbane for skin graphing.

He suffered superficial burns to his cheek bones, forehead and hands, but luckily Mr Purcell was informed he would make a full recovery and was discharged from Mackay Base Hospital the following day.

The miner said the whole experience was “extremely embarrassing”, but wanted to share his experience to inform others of the dangers of what could go wrong when you weren’t paying attention.

“If I had followed the safety rules in place at work this wouldn’t have happened,” Mr Purcell said.

“I shouldn’t have been lighting a fire in the middle of the day.”

Mr Purcell said he believed it was the fact he was wearing his long-sleeved work clothes which protected him from further damage.

The miner said he regularly responded to fires at work as part of the emergency team and should have known better.