By Erin Rhoda
The Morning Sentinel
BOSTON — Family and friends are reeling from the tragic death of Daniel Pomerleau, 17, who died Sunday from severe burns sustained after gas was poured on a campfire.
Pomerleau, originally of Norridgewock, died at 11 a.m. on Sunday at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston, Mass., said Sgt. Ken Grimes, of the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office.
He was a senior at Skowhegan Area High School and wanted to go to college to become a diesel mechanic, said his second cousin, Michael Bruce, 24, of East Madison, who took care of Pomerleau. Pomerleau had lived with him for the past three years.
It was at the fire pit behind their house on East Madison Road where Pomerleau and a 17-year-old friend from Norridgewock poured gasoline on a campfire Saturday evening.
Grimes said there was a vapor flash, meaning the cloud of vapors created by the gasoline ignited. The flames caught hold of Pomerleau.
“It didn’t burn off quick. When it got on him, it just kept burning,” Bruce said. Most of his body was burned severely.
The friend helped put out the fire on Pomerleau, sustaining third degree burns on his arms. It was “just a horrific accident, and they were best friends,” Bruce said.
A LifeFlight helicopter took Pomerleau to Maine Medical Center in Portland and then to the Shriners hospital in Boston. The friend was taken to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan and released.
Bruce, who works at Randy’s Auto Repair in Skowhegan, recalled the last time he saw Pomerleau. It was at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, as Bruce was readying to go bird-hunting six hours north.
“He was just sitting at the desk at the shop, eating my leftovers from lunch,” he said.
Pomerleau could often be found at the shop, Bruce said. He worked there after school and on weekends. He liked “loud exhaust,” he said, and snowmobiling, four-wheeling and fishing.
“I’m going to miss him, and I love him,” Bruce said.
A friend, Quentin Frigon, of Bingham, said Pomerleau enjoyed being outdoors and playing football. “It’s a terrible, terrible accident. He was a good kid, always had a smile on his face,” he said.
Brandon Berry of West Forks said Pomerleau looked up to Bruce and was “always joking around, making people laugh.”
He earned his driver’s license this past summer, he said, “and he fixed up a truck at the garage that he was very proud of.” He was “an innocent little kid with a lot of life ahead of him.”
Dawn Smith of Norridgewock was a secretary at Norridgewock Central Grade School when Pomerleau was a student there. She described him as a “very nice-looking boy, clean, just a nice, quiet boy.”
Jan Downing, of Skowhegan, was an education technician there and worked with him from time to time. “He had a wonderful smile,” she said.
Debbie Clark is the coordinator for the crisis team at Skowhegan Area High School. Counselors will be available for students throughout the day today , and the schedule will be kept as normal as possible, she said.
Superintendent Brent Colbry said the district will support those affected “in any way we can.
“This is obviously a tremendous tragedy for any family and any community,” he said.
Madison Fire Chief Roger Lightbody Sr. said a “critical stress debriefing” would be held Monday night to help the ambulance, police and fire personnel who were at the scene Saturday night.
“It gives them a chance to talk about it ... whatever they’ve got to do,” Lightbody said.
Although the fire is not suspicious, the fire marshal’s office is continuing to investigate, as they do in the case of any serious injury related to fire.
“It’s a horrific incident that’s happened, but if there’s any message to be learned from this it’s, ‘Never, ever pour gasoline or any other sort of ignitable onto a fire,’” Grimes said.
A Facebook page was created called “In Loving Memory of Daniel Pomerleau.” As of 3 p.m. Monday, it had 476 members.
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