A Long Island truck driver was critically burned when he used a cigarette lighter to look inside the fuel tank of his dump truck, police said.
Scott Allen, 38, stopped his truck on Merrick Road in Lynbrook at 1 a.m. Thursday because the fuel gauge was not working, said Nassau County Police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Collins.
“He was attempting to check the level of the diesel fuel with a cigarette lighter” when the fuel exploded, said Collins.
Allen, of East Patchogue, suffered burns to his face, chest and arm and was in critical condition at Nassau University Medical Center.