Pastor in ICU with severe burns after firepit explosion

A Northern Virginia pastor suffered severe burns from an explosion at his home Tuesday night.

Kevin Corey was burning documents in a firepit in the backyard of his townhome on Powderbrook Lane in the Newington area of Fairfax County when neighbors heard the explosion about 8:30 p.m.

“It shook our house, I would say,” neighbor Max Miller said. “It sounded like a bomb went off and it felt like an earthquake.”

Neighbor Sherri Weaver’s Ring camera captured the explosion.

“You see him add an accelerant, which happened to be a gas can,” she said. “Then you hear this big explosion, and the gas can was too close to the fire, and it exploded in his hands.”

The video shows an enormous plume of fire as Corey backed away from the firepit

“Unfortunately, the gas can, it sprayed all over him, and you then see him drop down to the ground, and the fire just followed him, and he was on fire,” Weaver said.

The video shows Corey’s wife run out and use a rug to put out the flames on his body.

“The last thing that you hear on my Ring camera is, ‘I’m alive, I’m alive,’” Weaver said.

Another neighbor used their hose to douse the flames around the firepit.

Corey was airlifted to a hospital.

“He is in ICU now for third-degree burns over 60% of his body,” said Corey’s daughter Jenna Guercia. “It’s going to be a slow recovery, but we’re hopeful.”

Corey’s wife suffered burns to her hands from helping to put out the flames. She was briefly treated and released. She asked Weaver to pass along an important message.

“She wants to let people know that when you’re burning a fire of some sort, don’t use a gas accelerant,” she said. “Be careful with what you’re doing. You don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”