SPRINGFIELD -- Grilling is a common practice, but caution must be used during the fun and feasting. Springfield Mayor Rusty Fogle can vouch for this advice.

"I received third-degree burns on my left hand, thumb area, palm and down my knuckles. It was second-degree burns right through there," said Fogle, showing the creases between two fingers that were burned while he attempted to light his gas grill to prepare his family's supper on Aug. 27.

The problem was that the top of the massive pull-behind gas grill, which Fogle's college friend had built for him, was down, causing gas to build up without any escape. Fogle was also lighting the grill with a regular lighter instead of the longer propane grill lighter that he'd normally use.

"That meant I had to stick my hand in a little bit further this time to light it, and the grill blew. It can happen in a minute to anybody. You've got a big, heavy top that you have to lift up on it, but that thing lifted up a good five inches ... and closed back down. I pulled my hand out real quick," Fogle said.

"That was a big mistake by not opening the top. In that short amount of time, the gas went from the gas tank in the front of my grill ... to the back ... . By the time I got back from the front to the back and stooped down, the gas had already built up in there, like a matter of 30 seconds," said Fogle, who initially burned his right hand several months ago on the same grill, though not nearly as bad.

"When I burned my hand the first time, I learned that if the pilot light, or burner, goes out, you lift the top and make sure the gas fumes are all out. Give it a couple of minutes to clear its system," he said.

With his second burn, the mayor rushed to his home and placed his burned hand in an ice tray. He had also sustained flash burns on the underside of his left arm from the flames. Fogle's wife then took him to Bamberg County Hospital, and he was transported from there by ambulance to the Augusta Burn Center in Georgia.

"She looked at it, and I knew it was way worse. I couldn't open it, couldn't do anything with my hand to see how bad it was," said the Springfield mayor, noting that his doctor at the burn center told him that the heavy starch used in his dry-cleaned, long-sleeved shirt may have attracted the flame to his hand and up his sleeve.

"Cloth will burn easy anyway, but those flames stuck to that shirt sleeve, attached right to it. I was trying to shake them out, but it was a pretty good blaze," said Fogle, who underwent surgery for a skin graft.

He now wears a glove over his left hand when he's out in the sun.

"The purpose of that is to keep grease out of it because I work with tractors and machinery. The glove keeps my hand from scarring. It keeps it tight and clean. For my third-degree burns, there's extra coating on them (under the glove) to keep those wounds tight," he said.

While there may be nerve damage to his thumb, the mayor is in good spirits. He has completed all of his checkups at the Augusta Burn Center. While the nerve damage in his thumb may take a while to heal, the skin graft is healing well, he said.

"The skin graft has taken well, and I have to keep a lot of suntan oil on it to keep it from getting irritated and causing skin cancer. It's scarred a little, but is healing up.They also gave me some in-home exercises to get movement back in my thumb, but felt that the nerve damage will eventually take care of itself. The nerves are a little tender and take a little while to get where they should be, but I got a clean bill of health," he said.

Fogle says all grills, gas or electric and big or small, can be dangerous.

"I would tell everybody cooking with any grill, but mainly gas, to make sure you at least have a long enough lighter to start it. And remember to raise that gas grill top. Mine had a lot more pressure than some of the ones bought from the store because it's got a heavy-duty regulator. My gas grill can get from 0 to 525 degrees in probably five minutes or less," he said, adding that individuals also need to avoid alcohol when operating a grill.

Sam Watford, owner of Southern Cookers Inc. at 5764 North Road, has built grills and other outdoor cooking equipment for more than 10 years.

"The main thing with grills is people don't read their owner's manual. They'll throw that away and don't think about using it," he said.

"Never light a grill with the lid shut. Whenever the gas is trapped, it doesn't have a chance to escape. You also need to check that the gas is off before you try to light it. Kids can get out playing around the grill and accidentally turn the gas on. You go to light it, and you got a bomb. All that is in the owner's manual that they didn't read," Watford said.

"A lot of fires come from the grease. Keeping your grill clean is very important so you don't have build up, and that's for electric or gas grills. A lot of the fires I see, especially the larger grills I build, are from people not cleaning them regularly. People let the grease build up, and they end up with one hell of a fire," he said. Watford said grease and improper maintenance were the two main reasons that several people he knew of ended up at the Augusta Burn Center this past summer.

"Grilling can be entertaining and fun, but it can be dangerous just like anything else," he said.

Fogle, who said his friend has since equipped his grill with an electric starter, has learned that lesson.

"I'm very grateful. I was in a lot of pain, but you go to a burn center, where I saw a lot of people with their face or both of their legs or arms burned ... two or three percent of my body was burned, but some of these people had burns from 50 to 80 percent of their body.

"I say I've had a bad year, but I'm blessed that it's just another obstacle that I'll deal with," Fogle said.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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