A Texas man had the hair singed from his arms after trying to light his grill on forgetting he’d left its propane tank running.
Paul Blasi, 31, of San Antonio, Texas, was having a great new year as he exited his backdoor dressed in red pajama pants and a gray t-shirt to set up his grilling station to cook up some chicken for a beet salad on Thursday.
Blasi opened his grill and noticed it ‘didn’t light’ and said he ‘kind of went on autopilot.’
‘I kind of strolled out there, having a good day, I’m smiling – you know it’s 2022, it’s a new year,’ he told DailyMail.com on Sunday about the moment before the big boom.
‘I was actually cooking dinner and I had gone to light the grill – I usually get it hot first to get it clean – and I didn’t realize it didn’t light. Then I kind of went on autopilot and I think you know what happens next.’
Paul Blasi, 31, of San Antonio, Texas, had quite the scare when he went he went to relight his grill and a fiery explosion nearly insinuated his eyebrows
![Blasi was prepping his grill to cook some grilled chicken for a beet salad when he noticed his grill hadn't lit. He went on 'autopilot' and took a lighter to the grill, forgetting about the sparker](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/10/02/52735353-10385127-image-m-38_1641781921324.jpg)
Blasi was prepping his grill to cook some grilled chicken for a beet salad when he noticed his grill hadn’t lit. He went on ‘autopilot’ and took a lighter to the grill, forgetting about the sparker
![Blasi kept his eyebrows, but is now sporting one hairless arm](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/10/02/52736249-10385127-image-a-43_1641781990854.jpg)
Blasi kept his eyebrows, but is now sporting one hairless arm
He can be seen picking up a lighter and attempting to relight the grill, forgetting about the sparker.
Moments later, Blasi was ‘staring into the gates of hell’ as the flammable gas that had built up erupted in a fiery explosion swarmed his face and arms. The explosive reaction was so powerful, even the second hood of his grill shot backwards with force as the fire swarmed outward.
Blasi can be seen holding onto his face, saying. ‘F**k, holy s**t, holy s**t,’ as he gripped his face and scrambled away from the Oklahoma Joe’s Grill.
‘My first thought was that “oh great, I just burned my face or worse,”‘ he told DailyMail.com. ‘My second thought after “am I safe,” is do I have my eyebrows?’ he said laughing.
![Blasi did manage to go back and 'finish what he started' afterward, but said he was scared to tell his wife, who is a nurse, what happened. After finding out he was okay, he told DailyMail.com that she 'watched it 20 times and laughed every time'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/10/02/52736259-10385127-image-m-40_1641781944100.jpg)
Blasi did manage to go back and ‘finish what he started’ afterward, but said he was scared to tell his wife, who is a nurse, what happened. After finding out he was okay, he told DailyMail.com that she ‘watched it 20 times and laughed every time’
He can be seen heading for the door after the ordeal before thinking better of his actions and goes to turn off the grill.
‘I turned off the gas immediately,’ he told DailyMail.com on Sunday.
Afterward, he went back inside in a bit of shock: ‘I had to sit down for a moment. Your heart is going 10million miles an hour,’ he told DailyMail.com
Fortunately, Blasi wasn’t hurt too bad, besides ‘some crispy hair.’
‘I got away with some very minor burns on my arm and some crispy hair,’ he told DailyMail.com on Sunday. ‘Otherwise A-Okay!’
Despite keeping his eyebrows, Blasi suffered minor burns on his left arm – the one he used to light grill – and is now sporting one hairless arm, but otherwise walked away unharmed.
What’s scared the Texan more was having to tell his wife, who’s a nurse, that he almost hurt himself.
![Blasi suffered minor burns from the explosions](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/10/02/52736245-10385127-Blasi_suffered_minor_burns_from_the_explosions-a-22_1641782639745.jpg)
Blasi suffered minor burns from the explosions
‘I was almost afraid to text her,’ he told DailyMail.com, but he managed to work up the courage to and diluted his wife’s fear with some well used humor.
‘The second she left work, she watch it on the Ring camera and then watched it 20 more times and laughed every time,’ he told DailyMail.com.
He also admitted his wife was the one to ‘extract’ the video from the camera and he sent it to his friends, but decided to post on YouTube and Reddit later on.
‘I wouldn’t have posted it if I actually got hurt,’ he said. How his explosive moment is his way to protect grill safety.
When asked what his safety tip would be, he told DailyMail.com: ‘Be very mindful every single time. Every single time.’
Blasi did end up cooking the chicken and ‘finishing what he started,’ even if it was with a little fear.
‘I told myself I’m not gonna be afraid of the grill, I’m going to finish what I started.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk