NEWPORT, N.H. --
Firefighters said a 68-year-old man was severely burned while trying to help his son during an explosion at a Newport scrap metal yard Tuesday.
Firefighters said they received a call just after 4 p.m. reporting an accident at Chubbs Scrap Metal on Page Hill Road.
Fire crews said Clifton Labounty Jr.'s son was draining a gas tank on an old pickup truck using a drill when a spark ignited the gasoline.
Firefighters said Labounty jumped in to help and tried to move a bucket full of gas away from his son, but it exploded and he ended up getting burned over most of his body.
"(Labounty) actually kind of walked over (to us), (he was) hunched over a little bit and (said) he needed help," said Newport Fire Chief Wayne Conroy.
Conroy said Labounty was flown to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he was being treated for second- and third-degree burns over 80 to 90 percent of his body.
Labounty's son burned his hands while trying to help his father, firefighters said.
Newport police are investigating the accident, and the State Fire Marshal's Office has been notified, firefighters said.
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