6 children burned, 2 critically in Dallas area gas explosion

McKINNEY - A fire official says that four of six children injured in an explosion after gas was poured onto an open fire pit in Texas suffered critical burns.

McKinney Fire Department spokeswoman Stacie Durham says the four youngsters were taken by helicopter to a Dallas hospital after the Monday afternoon explosion in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Durham says at least one of the children sprinkled gasoline from a can onto the fire and left the can near the pit. She says fumes from the can ignited and all six children who were near the can were hit by the explosion's flames.

Deb Martin, a neighbor, told the Dallas Morning News she ran over to the house when she heard the explosion.

"It was a whoosh," Martin said. "I don't know how else to describe it, and the kids were screaming. I thought maybe it was a firecracker, but they kept screaming. Some of the kids were running from the backyard."

The children, ages 4 to 11, are related and some are siblings, Durham said. A fifth child also taken to the Dallas hospital was in serious condition, and a sixth was taken to a McKinney hospital with minor burns, she said.

The children were believed to have been left unsupervised in the back yard, where a fire was burning. Adults were inside the home at the time of the explosion.

A child who is believed not to have been injured ran into the home and told the adults there was an explosion and the children were on fire, Durham said. A neighbor called 911.