American comedian Jay Leno described the moment his face caught fire in the blaze, resulting in burns to around 7% of his body.
former tonight show host severe burns He suffered third-degree burns on his hands and chest, as well as his face, after one of his classic cars caught fire in his Los Angeles garage last month.
He suffered “deep second-degree” and possible third-degree burns in the fire, but was released from hospital on November 21.
In his first interview since the injury, the 72-year-old told NBC’s TODAY show that he was working with a friend on his 1907 White Motor Co steam-powered 1907 when he noticed a clogged fuel line in the car. car.
“So I was under it, trying to unclog (it), and I said, ‘Blow some air through the line,'” Leno recalled.
“Then all of a sudden, bang, my face was filled with gas and then the lights jumped up and my face was on fire.”
He added that his friend managed to extinguish the flames by pulling him out and “jumping” on top of him.
Leno was taken to the hospital by ambulance and then to the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, where he was given hyperbaric oxygen therapy — a type of oxygen therapy that speeds the healing of burn wounds.
He spent more than a week in hospital due to his injuries.
Skin grafts from ‘human cadaver skin’
“I was badly burned by the gasoline fire,” Leno said in a statement last month. “I’m fine. It just takes a week or two to get back on my feet.”
Dr. Peter Grossman, director of the Grossman Burn Center, told NBC Los Angeles that Leno suffered burns on “approximately 7 percent of his body” and that he was treated with a temporary skin graft of “human cadaver skin.”
in his dischargeLeno posed for a photo with the crew, revealing some of his burns.
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“Never thought of myself as a baked comic”
Despite the ordeal, he returned to stand-up comedy with a sold-out show in California just days after his release.
“Never thought of myself as a baked comic,” he joked at the event. “We have two shows tonight, regular and extra crisp.”
Leno is also the host of the reality series Jay Leno’s Garage, and he is known for his love of cars.
He has an estimated 180 cars and 160 motorcycles in his garage near Hollywood Burbank Airport, according to the duPont Registry, a marketplace and publication for collectors of rare and classic cars.