OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC) – A 51-year-old Olive Township man learned the hard way why it’s not safe to use gasoline to stoke a fire.
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Dean DeVries and fellow first responders were dispatched to a residence off of Fillmore Street near 120th Avenue around 1 PM on Tuesday afternoon after Benjamin Groenhof Junior was working on a blaze at the rear of the property. He poured gasoline onto the fire, and the flames jumped up onto his clothing and onto an adjacent vehicle. Groenhof was able to take the burned clothing off and call 9-1-1. He was taken to Spectrum-Blodgett Hospital, where he was initially listed in critical condition.
The incident remains under investigation.
