A fire-breather suffered serious burns to his face when a stunt went wrong at a barbecue in Bridgwater, Somerset. Joe Johnstone, 31, was performing for children at the gathering on April 7 when a gust of wind caused his beard to catch fire.
Footage shows Joe spinning a lit fire staff before breathing a stream of fire, which then blows back into his face. Within seconds his entire head is ablaze, and he drops to the ground clutching his face as friends rush to help. They extinguished the flames and put him under a cold shower until an ambulance arrived.
Joe was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where doctors had to 'peel off' melted dead skin from his face every four hours. He described it as the 'worst pain' he had ever experienced. After seven days in hospital, he was discharged.
The self-taught fire-breather, who has been performing for eight years, said: 'I've done it a million times. A gust of wind just came and blew it back in my face, simple as that.' Despite the accident, he plans to return to fire-breathing, saying: 'Nothing is going to scare me.'
