Dec. 13--Investigators believe that flammable fluid poured into a hot pot by mistake caused a mobile home fire in San Luis Tuesday morning that seriously burned one of the men who lived there.

Luis Cebreros, public information officer for the San Luis Fire Department, explained the man who was burned woke up sometime before 5 a.m. and made himself a pot of coffee. After drinking it, he then decided to make another pot for his two other roommates.

In doing so, Cebreros said he mistakenly picked up a plastic gallon jug that had been filled with gasoline, not water as the victim had thought, and poured it into a pot that was being heated on the stove.

"They had gas in one of those plastic gallon milk jugs. I don't know why they had it," Cebreros said. "The man who was burned looked at it and saw a clear liquid in it and thought it was water."

Cebreros said the pot exploded in the man's face, causing second-degree burns to the tip of his nose and first-degree burns to the rest of his face and hands. The explosion caused gasoline to spread throughout the kitchen and living room area, igniting several objects on fire.

"The guy tried to put the fire out, but when it got too big, he woke up his other two roommates who were asleep in their rooms, and they got out," Cebreros said. "Most of our fires here involve trailer houses, most of which aren't equipped with smoke detectors. In this case though, it was an accident."

San Luis firefighters responded to a report of a trailer on fire at the location and found heavy black smoke and flames coming from the north and south ends of the trailer. They quickly made entry into the home and knocked down the fire.

Cebreros said the trailer was unfortunately lost in the fire, but firefighters were able to save several important documents belonging to the residents.

The two other residents of the home were able to escape without any injuries. No firefighters were injured during the incident. Cebreros said the man who was burned was treated on scene for smoke inhalation and transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center for further evaluation.

The Red Cross was contacted to assistant the residents of the trailer and Somerton/Cocopah assisted in the fire as mutual aid.

James Gilbert can be reached at [email protected] or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.