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Two severely burned in bonfire accident in North Fort Myers

Posted at 12:54 PM, Dec 11, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-11 19:39:58-05

LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Two people are recovering from severe burns after an explosion in North Fort Myers Monday morning. One of the victim's burns were so bad, that he reportedly asked his family if he was dreaming.

It happened Monday morning while they were setting a bonfire near their home on Marx Drive in the Suncoast Estates neighborhood.

”All of his pants and boxers were burnt to his skin,” said Jesse Iyvers, showing Fox 4 where he last saw his brother engulfed in flames. 

He says his brother's skin looked like melting plastic.  "My brother is now 90% burnt; kids got their mom burnt. Her face, all right side of it is burnt. It's pretty tragic, we're all shaken up from it."

Jesse says he and his family started the fire Monday morning to help warm them up.  But when his brother used a canister to douse the wood with gasoline, it set off an explosion.

Jesse is still shaken up over the blast. "It happened a little bit too fast. The fire, I guess, it caught the fumes from the gas can on fire and it exploded,” says Jesse.  "He was so much in pain he looked around at everybody and asked is this a dream?”

The family is now dealing with their own nightmare, trying to figure out why the gas can sparked the blast.

"We've done this plenty of times before and this is the first time it happened," said Jesse.

The two victims were transported to the hospital for their burns.