McKinney fire pit explosion injures six children

The children were sprinkling gasoline over the fire and left the can too close to the open flame.

Photo by Bill Conrad

The 800 block of Center Street was blocked off while investigators worked to determine exactly what occurred prior to the explosion.

MCKINNEY — Six children were injured, four critically, when a gasoline can exploded Monday in east McKinney.

The children, who range in age from 4 to 11, were sprinkling gas over an open flame in a fire pit at a residence in the 800 block of Center Street. The can was placed next to the fire, igniting vapors and causing a flash fire that injured all six children, said Stacie Durham, McKinney Fire Department spokeswoman.

The four critically injured children were flown by air ambulance to Parkland Hospital. One child was also taken to Parkland by ground ambulance, and one was taken by ambulance to Medical Center of McKinney. The incident was reported at 1:15 p.m.

Adults were inside at the time of the accident, but the children were unsupervised in the backyard at the time of the accident, Durham said.

Six children were injured Monday afternoon when a gasoline can sitting next to an open fire exploded at a residence in east McKinney. Four of the children were taken to Parkland Hospital via air ambulance with critical injuries. Police officers and fire investigators were still at the scene several hours after the explosion.

Kennedy Caine, 11, said she was at her cousin's house across the street when she heard a boom come from the house across the street.

Caine said she was playing with some of the children who were later injured shortly before the accident and saw them being taken out of the house by EMS with severe burns to the legs, back, arms, and elbows.

"The kids I didn't know, they were really burned; really bad," she said.

The oldest child was able to communicate what happened to first responders, Durham said.

The investigation is ongoing.