GoFundMe pages created for cook badly burned in Wednesday Bluffton Fat Patties flash fire

At least two GoFundMe pages have been created to help a cook badly burned in a flash fire at the Bluffton Fat Patties restaurant on Wednesday afternoon.

Both pages name the victim as Colin Christensen. According to his Facebook page, Christensen lives in Beaufort and was in the class of 2015 at Beaufort High School.

As of 5 p.m. on Friday, one of the pages raised $250 of its $5,000 goal to help pay medical expenses for Christensen.

“He has a long road ahead of him and will need any and all help that he can get to help pay for medical bills, living expenses, etc.,” the administrator of the page wrote. “If you can help in any way, it would be much appreciated. He is a well loved person by many and is part of the Fat Patties family.”

At around the same time on Friday, the second page had raised $755 of its $1,500 goal.

“It is going to be a long, horrific painful road,” the administrator of the second page wrote. “I just hope that we all can pull together with faith and maybe a little assistance to make it a little bit easier.”

According to Nick Borreggine, owner of Fat Patties, Christensen was burned from his hands to his elbows on both arms, on the top portion of his thighs, and on his face and neck around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. He was flown to a burn center in Augusta and was expected to undergo surgery Thursday.

Attempts to obtain Christensen’s condition from the burn center Friday were unsuccessful.

Borreggine said he believes gas in a stove’s burner built up and traveled to another appliance next to it, causing flames to “blow” Christensen back when the pilot light on that appliance was ignited.

The restaurant passed all inspections from a fire marshal and re-opened on Friday, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page.

“Thank you all so much for your support,” a post on the restaurant’s Facebook said. “Please continue to pray for Colin, the employee who was injured on Wednesday.”

The restaurant also commented that $1 of every Shared Waters beer that is sold will be donated to Christensen.

“Also, if worker’s comp does not pay him while he recovers, we will,” the restaurant posted.

This story was originally published July 7, 2017 at 2:11 PM with the headline "GoFundMe pages created for cook badly burned in Wednesday Bluffton Fat Patties flash fire."