Horrifying second fire-breather’s head goes up flames inflicting his face to ‘soften’ off

Joe Johnstone, 31, was performing the stunt at a barbeque in Bridgwater, Somerset, on April 7th when a gust of wind caused his beard to catch on fire

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This is the terrifying moment a fire-breather’s head was engulfed in flames when a stunt went horribly wrong – causing his face to ‘melt’ off.

Joe Johnstone performed the daring act at a barbeque in Bridgwater, Somerset, on April 7 when a gust of wind caused his beard to ignite. The 31-year-old revealed he hadn’t performed for two years until being asked to by children at the gathering, prompting him to demonstrate some tricks.

Shocking footage shows Joe twirling a lit fire staff before fire breathing, blowing a liquid fuel onto the flame to create a stream of fire, before it blows back into his face, setting his beard alight.

Seconds later, Joe’s entire head is aflame and he falls to the ground clutching his face as worried friends rush over to assist.

The self-taught fire-breather said they managed to pat out the flames before putting him under a cold shower until an ambulance arrived.

The adrenaline junkie was rushed to Southmead Hospital in Bristol where he said doctors had to ‘peel off’ the melted, dead skin from his face.

Joe, who is unemployed, described it as the ‘worst pain’ he’d ever experienced and that it had to be done every four hours.

The self-proclaimed ‘fire warrior’ was discharged after seven days in hospital and, despite the accident, is eager to return to fire-breathing.

Joe, from Bridgwater, Somerset, said: “I’ve done it a million times. We were having a barbeque and the kids were like, ‘can you show us?’

“I said ‘I haven’t done it in a couple of years, I’m a bit rusty.’ A gust of wind just came and blew it back in my face, simple as that. In these situations, you just have to be calm. I put my hands in my face trying to save what I could save, trying to keep it out of my eyes.

“It was the most frightening time of my life. It wasn’t that windy but sometimes a gust of wind comes out of nowhere. It was quite a dry day as well. I didn’t feel my face on fire, my brain just went on survival mode.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the pain, all I was thinking was ‘how can I put this out?’. That was the only thing going through my head.

“My friends started hitting the fire and they dragged me to the shower, I had cold water all over my face. I was in the shower for half an hour until the ambulance came.

“The pain came after I was put out. The most painful thing was in the hospital when the doctors came in and they said they have to take the dead skin off my face.

“They scrubbed my face and it was the worst hour of my life. My face is definitely melted. It didn’t look like me, it didn’t look normal.”

Joe began fire-breathing eight years ago after witnessing performers at festivals and taught himself the skill, now feeling fortunate to have survived the incident.

Joe said: “I started going to festivals about eight years ago. I’d seen people do it in underground raves and I fancied doing it myself.

“I saw people do it and thought I wanted to do that. I just picked it up and started doing it myself. I’ve been to a few festivals in the last few years.

“Having so many people around me is a miracle. I can taste, smell, talk, see, the fact that I’m still alive is a miracle. I’m so lucky.”

Joe shared a brief 10-second video of his accident on social media to raise awareness, stating he relishes ‘staring death in the face’.

Joe said: “I put the video up for other people’s awareness. I couldn’t believe how big the flames were on my face, it was intense watching it. I can’t wait to get back to it.

“Nothing is going to scare me. The reason it happened was because I put it down for a couple of years. I used to be really good. I have to make sure there is a bucket next to me, I’ll wet my face, check the wind.

“I like staring death in the face, I do like pushing myself, I’m a fire warrior.”