Caught on camera: Pizza oven bursts into flames, restaurant owner injured while lighting pilot light
A Texas pizza shop owner suffered burn injuries recently when he opened an oven door to light the pilot.
Watch security camera video of the incident in the player above.
Though he was injured, Fernando Fuentez, owner of Lily’s Pizza in San Angelo, Texas, says he walked away from the situation counting his blessings after the oven caught on fire when he lit the pilot.
"This minor burns all the way through here, armpit here. So lost my eyebrows. Just more of the scare than anything,” Fuentez told KTXS.
On March 10, Fuentez went to the restaurant to open up in place of the manager, who had the day off. When he checked the oven, he found the pilot was out.
"That pilot turns off sometimes. And then of course, once you light the pilot, then everything else flames up," he explained, adding, "So everything was off.”
Needing to get the oven fired up, the pizza shop proprietor thought, “Let's just light it."
That’s when flames erupted from the oven. It was all caught on camera.
According to reporting from KTXS, the cause of the fire is thought to have been caused by something called an odorless, colorless gas bubble.
“I watched that video and it's, it's terrifying,” Fuentez said, later adding, I"'m just counting my blessings, and an angel was with me and God — somebody. Jesus was right there beside me and pushed me out of the way.”
Less than a week after the incident, Fuentez went back to work. He told KTXS he would be working to implement new safety protocols as it relates to the oven.