Hero's fight to save burning boy

By Sally Nancarrow
BBC News

The fire was at a storage compound in Folkestone

A driver who grabbed a blazing teenager and beat out the flames engulfing him has said he has no idea how the 15-year-old survived the horror.

Leigh Currie was first on the scene after an explosion at a storage compound on the Ross Way industrial estate in Folkestone on Sunday.

"The lad was on fire from head to toe and crawling out of the gates," Mr Currie told the BBC News website.

The boy, who received 80% burns, remains critically ill in hospital.

He was conscious the whole time and I felt for him as a father Leigh Currie

He was initially flown by Kent Air Ambulance to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, and later transferred to the specialist burns unit at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead.

Mr Currie, who was driving home from the nearby recycling centre, said he heard an explosion about 30m away.

"I had the window open and the music up and didn't so much hear the explosion as feel it through the window," he said.

"I was stunned. I have no idea how the lad survived the initial explosion.

"I could hear screaming and saw him crawling through the gates.

"I grabbed him and rolled him on the floor and more or less stamped the fire out."

Mr Currie, a restaurant purchasing manager, said he thought the incident might have lasted about 90 seconds.

"I keep reliving it and trying to work out how long it took.

"I just thank God I put him out," he said.

Teenagers arrested

He waited with police and paramedics until the air ambulance took the teenager to hospital about 40 minutes later.

"He was conscious the whole time, and I felt for him as a father," said Mr Currie, who has a four-year-old daughter.

Two 14-year-old boys were arrested on suspicion of arson and grievous bodily harm after the incident.

They were later released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Kent Police and fire investigators from Kent Fire and Rescue Service are looking into what happened in the blaze, in which tyres were found burning after the explosion at the rear of the premises.