LI boy who was burned by heater has a message

Nine-year-old Devin Stinsman has a message for other children: Listen to your parents when they tell you not to stand too close to the heater.

The Port Jefferson Station fourth-grader spent the past two weeks in the burn unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center after a kerosene space heater set his pants ablaze, leaving him with second- and third-degree burns.

"It took a minute to realize I was on fire. I was in shock," Devin said Monday at a hospital media event highlighting fire safety. "I never thought this would happen to me."

Despite several warnings to stay away from the heater that warms the family's motorcycle repair shop in Mastic, Devin's curiosity got the best of him. The frayed bottoms of his jeans ignited first, then his thermal underwear. In seconds, his entire right leg was engulfed in flames.

"It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life," said his father, George Stinsman, 36, who rushed to the front of the shop when he heard his son's "screams of terror." Stinsman smothered the flames while Devin's mother, Dee, 42, watched in panic, yelling at the pair to "stop, drop and roll."

Stony Brook doctors had to perform a two-hour surgery that took skin from Devin's upper thigh to replace what burned off his shin, said Dr. Steven Sandoval, medical director of the burn center.

About a dozen children with similar burns are treated there each year, Sandoval said. Nationally, more than 400 deaths and 1,100 injuries are due to space heaters, according to the National Fire Prevention Association.

Devin's leg remains propped up in a wheelchair as it was Monday; he has been unable to bend at the knee since the skin graft surgery. He will go through physical therapy and his wounds will be closely monitored to prevent infection.

The Stinsmans are donating a video game system to the burn unit and are planning a May fundraiser for fire-prevention education. Meanwhile, Devin's fascination with fire and the space heater has ended. "For all the kids who are obsessed with fire," he advised, "don't do it."