Man burned when ad stunt goes wrong

A man is in hospital with serious burns after a pyrotechnic stunt for a police recruitment advertisement went horribly wrong.

The accident, which left a photographic assistant in his 30s in a serious condition in Middlemore Hospital, occurred during a photo shoot in Onetangi, for Auckland-based advertising agency Whybin-TBWA, which handles police recruiting work.

Waiheke Volunteer Fire Brigade fire chief Ron Leonard said the incident occurred after the photographic assistant set fire to a car in full view of a fire service crew which was on the set in case something went awry.

Mr Leonard said the crew noticed him pouring liquid on the vehicle and assumed it was diesel. However, it was petrol, which exploded when he lit it.

The man was thrown backwards, landing on his back, suffering burns to his arms and neck.

Firemen administered first aid and gave oxygen to the man, put the car fire out and arranged for a helicopter to get him to Middlemore Hospital.

"It certainly would have been bad press for us if we'd been monitoring it, but we were just there on standby. We had nothing to do with organising it. We thought the police were going to be there," said Mr Leonard.

Police recruitment manager Kevin Loughlin was also quick to distance himself from the incident.

He said police had nothing to do with the fire beyond commissioning Whybin-TBWA to create a newspaper recruitment campaign for the force.

"The actual fire was an unfortunate accident but it had nothing to do with us. There were no police personnel there," he said.

Whybin-TBWA public relations head Angela Griffen said the police recruitment campaign was being done by a sub-contractor on behalf of the company.

"The car needed to be burned for a photographic shoot later in the evening. Loads of checks and balances are done when doing such things and the fire service was there as well. It was just an unfortunate accident," she said.

Ms Griffen said the important thing was that the man was recovering well in hospital.

"Fire or no fire the show must go on, and the shoot was completed although no details are being released yet. It's all hush, hush for now - all will be revealed in the fullness of time," said Ms Griffen.