'My son is not the same boy after bonfire burns accident'

Hunter in Sheffield Children's Hospital after the accident in which he suffered serious burns

The mother of a 12-year-old boy who suffered serious burns in an horrific accident has warned other families about the dangers of playing near bonfires.

Kim's son Hunter was engulfed in flames when another child threw a petrol cannister onto a fire while playing on fields near a school.

He spent almost five weeks in Sheffield Children's Hospital and has now been left scarred for life.

Kim said: "Mentally it's changed him. He's not the outgoing kid that he was, he's very shut off."

Although the accident happened in August, Kim, 38, is sharing her message with other parents ahead of Bonfire Night events this weekend.

WARNING: This story contains a graphic image depicting burns injuries.

Hunter said the boy he was playing with in Dinnington, near Rotherham, had taken the petrol cannister from a nearby building site.

The resulting explosion set fire to Hunter's clothes, and he managed to extinguish the flames by rolling on the ground. He suffered severe burns, and his friends also sustained burns to their hands as they removed his coat.

Kim said her son Hunter was no longer the same child after the bonfire accident

Recalling the incident during the school summer holidays, Kim said: "He ran off, collapsed outside my friend's house, he put him in the car, rang me and said he needed to go to hospital."

Her son was screaming when he arrived at the family home and begging his mother for help.

She took him to a nearby GP surgery, where staff doused Hunter in water and called an ambulance.

Kim said he still believed he was on fire because the pain was so bad and kept asking for the flames to be "put out".

He was then rushed to Sheffield Children's Hospital.

"They cut his clothes off and realised that the burns had taken all the back of his right leg off all the way up the side, his kneecap, top of his thigh, his hand, the front of his head, his eyebrows, his eyelashes. He burned his lips, the bottom of his neck and his fingers."

Hunter's leg after being treated in hospital

Hunter's upper body was saved from injury only because he had been wearing a coat.

He underwent three skin grafts, but after treatment contracted two infections in his leg wound and has to return to hospital twice a week for it to be cleaned and dressed.

He has not attended school since the autumn term began, but hopes to return for a few hours per week in the run-up to Christmas.

Hunter recovering at home with his mum

Speaking about her son's recovery, Kim said: "If I could have taken the pain myself I would have done.

"I've seen him screaming, and he's never been a kid who cried, and I've seen him cry more this last eights weeks than he ever has in his life."

She now wants better education to be offered in schools to raise awareness of the dangers of fire.

Hunter lying in Sheffield Children's Hospital

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said anti-social behaviour associated with fires tended to peak around Bonfire Night.

Station manager for community safety, Jessica Grayson, said: "When you're a young adult or teenager you feel that you're invincible.

"So hearing stories like Hunter's, it's trying to get that message out there and show this is the kind of thing that can happen to you if you're playing with fireworks or playing with fire."

The service runs the Dark Nights campaign about fire and firework safety, and works with South Yorkshire Police, local councils and schools. Staffing is increased during the Bonfire Night weekend.

Jessica Grayson from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

Although Hunter's wounds are healing, he will need more skin grafts and will have to live with visible scarring.

Kim added: "Those boys were acting a bit out of control, thinking they could get away with it and not get caught. They didn't realise the severity and the dangers of it."

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