Burn victim Justin Barton is transfered to TraumaOne helicopter en route to Shands Gainesville.

A 9-year-old Macclenny boy received third-degree burns while attempting to start a fire in the backyard of a Violet Lane residence the afternoon of June 8.

He was flown by helicopter to the burn center at Shands Gainesville shortly after 2 pm from the Emergency Operations Center on US 90.

Neighbor Brandi Thompson said she saw the victim, Justin Barton, riding bikes with his twin brother Jacob Barton shortly before the incident.

“Somehow he got a hold of a lighter and tried to start a fire. And somehow he got the lighter fluid and it sparked,” said Ms. Thompson with the young boy’s brother in tow as the children’s grandmother, Wilma Allen Bullard, 53, spoke with deputies who responded to the scene with fire department and emergency medical personnel.

Deputy Daryl Mobley arrived to find the victim lying on the living room floor with severe burns on his upper leg, left torso and left arm, his report shows.

Police question the victim's grandmother (background). Also pictured are neighbor Brandi Thompson and the victim's twin brother.

The youth said he was trying to light pine straw under a play house in the back yard, Deputy Mobley stated. The officer noted there were three lighters and an empty bottle of lighter fluid near the play house.

When interviewed, the grandmother said the youth likely took the lighters from her dresser drawer when she was not looking, the officer’s report indicates.

 Not long after agreeing to let the victim ride his bike in the yard, Ms. Bullard said the boy came back in screaming with most of his clothes gone, stated the deputy.

“His skin looked like it was boiling,” the victim’s twin brother said when asked about his brother’s injuries.

Deputy Mobley notified the Florida Department of Children and Families of the incident.

TraumaOne landing at the EOC on US 90.

Ms. Thompson said Ms. Bullard has custody of the twin brothers.