Lincoln fire pit accident injures four, including son of TV personality Mark S. Allen
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Four young men were burned, two of them severely, after a fire pit accident during a makeshift prom celebration in Lincoln over the weekend, according to authorities and the father of one of the victims.
Longtime Sacramento-area TV personality Mark S. Allen wrote in a public Facebook post Sunday that his son Jackson was one of the two badly burned and is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center’s burn center.
Allen wrote that his son was at an informal backyard prom gathering Saturday night “when someone at the gathering added accelerant to a fire-pit as he and others were seated around it.”
“It doused him and set him on fire,” he wrote.
The Lincoln Fire Department in a Facebook post Monday morning said police and fire personnel were dispatched about 1:50 a.m. Sunday to a report of three people suffering burn injuries, but arrived to find four victims, “two of whom had significant injuries.”
The fire department transported the two seriously burned victims to a local burn unit, while the other two were treated at the scene, according to the post.
“The preliminary inquiries indicate that gasoline was added to an existing fire in a fire pit, which instantly caused a violent chemical chain reaction and subsequent burn injuries,” the fire department wrote. “It was a tragic accident with no indication that alcohol was involved.”
Allen wrote Sunday that his son will likely be in the hospital’s burn center for weeks while he recovers, with “his life forever changed.” In an update Monday morning, he wrote that Jackson has third-degree burns “over 25% of his body,” including his legs, chest and right arm.
Allen also wrote that he was “overwhelmed at the kindness” of community members responding to his Facebook post, which had more than 25,000 comments as of Monday morning.
His post included a photo of himself and Jackson, the latter in a tuxedo and holding a corsage, from before Jackson left Saturday night.
“I wish I could rewind to that moment right now,” Allen wrote.
