A Prescott Valley woman has died after suffering burns over more than half her body when gasoline poured onto a backyard fire pit exploded, sending flames across her and propelling the fuel can onto a neighbor's roof. Tammy Dodson spent nearly 10 days intubated at a Phoenix-area burn center undergoing multiple surgeries and skin grafts before she died on Oct. 4.
The explosion happened the night of Sept. 24, when police and Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority crews responded around 10:45 p.m. to a report of a burn victim at a home on Tracy Drive, according to ktar.com. First responders found Dodson in the backyard with serious injuries and had her flown to the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health in Phoenix, as reported by azcentral.com. A man at the home was also hurt in the blast but was not taken to a hospital, per the same report from ktar.com.
Dodson had burns on 53% of her body, underwent multiple surgeries and had already begun skin grafting in the days after the explosion, azcentral.com's reporting shows. Fox 10 Phoenix reported that she remained intubated on a ventilator for nearly 10 days, undergoing the repeated surgeries and grafting procedures before she died, according to fox10phoenix.com.
How the Fire Pit Ignited
According to Dodson's niece and news reports cited by azcentral.com, her boyfriend told relatives he poured gasoline onto their fire pit to reignite it, and the can ignited and flew out of his hand. Separately, AZ Family reported that Dodson had been sitting around a smaller, elevated metal fire pit in her backyard with her boyfriend, according to her sister, Tina Carl, when the dwindling fire was reignited with gasoline poured from a gas can. Carl told the outlet the resulting explosion propelled the gas can onto a neighbor's roof and engulfed Dodson in flames.
Town officials have said the incident happened when someone tried to reignite a fire pit, per AZ Family's reporting. Carl said she was angry that her sister died this way, and she warned others that people should never throw gasoline or other ignition sources onto a fire, according to the same account.
A Mother, Grandmother and Health Care Worker
Dodson was a certified nurse assistant who had recently worked within the Veterans Affairs health care system, azcentral.com reported. AZ Family described her as a mother, grandmother and health care worker, while her family has said they remain traumatized by what happened. Reports on Dodson's age have varied: azcentral.com identified her as 58, while AZ Family's report, published a week after her death, listed her as 59.
Dodson's family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover memorial costs, according to AZ Family's reporting. A message posted to the fundraiser said the family lost Tammy Dodson on Oct. 4 after she suffered catastrophic burns and injuries caused by another person's actions involving gasoline and a fire, per the GoFundMe page.
Why Gasoline and Fire Pits Don't Mix
Federal safety officials have repeatedly warned against the practice described in Dodson's case. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has cautioned that even invisible vapors from liquid fuels can ignite and flash back into a container, causing a severe explosion and potentially fatal or harmful burn injuries, advising that fire and fuel simply don't mix and that gasoline should never be used with fires or fire pits, according to cpsc.gov.
Dodson's death echoes other fire pit tragedies involving gasoline. In 2016, a fire pit explosion in Germantown fueled by gasoline injured three people, with two suffering burns over 40% of their bodies, according to tmj4.com. Dodson's family and sister are hoping her death serves as a warning to others who might be tempted to pour fuel onto a dying flame.
