The former late-night host, 72, was working on a car in his Burbank garage on Nov. 12 when the vehicle went up in flames, leaving Leno with second-degree burns all over his face and upper body. After spending nine days at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital and undergoing two skin graft surgeries, Leno is opening up for the first time about the terrifying experience and revealing what exactly went down that day. “When you work with cars, you have a lot of accidents,” he told People in a new interview published on Tuesday, Dec. 13. “But this is bigger than most.” The comedian and host of CNBC’s Jay Leno’s Garage was working on a clogged fuel line in the undercarriage of a 1907 White Steam car with his friend Dave Killackey when things went dangerously wrong. “With a steam car, you have gasoline, but you also have a vaporizer which is heated by a pilot light to turn water into steam,” he explained to the outlet. After air was pushed into the line in an attempt to unclog it, “I got a face full of gasoline,” Leno remembered. “I knew how close I was to the pilot light and I thought ‘Uh oh.’” A spark then reacted with the gas, causing the TV personality’s face to ignite. “It felt like my face was on fire,” he recalled. “Maybe like the most intense sunburn you’ve ever had, that’d be fair to say.” In the moment, Leno said he shut his eyes and held his breath while trying to get out from underneath the car as Killackey helped to pull him out. “I’m not a panicky guy, but I knew if I breathed in I could scorch my lungs,” he said. “I was under the car maybe 10 seconds before Dave pulled me out. Any longer than that I could have lost my eye.” Leno then used Killackey’s work shirt to put out the flames, before paramedics arrived minutes later. By the following day, he had checked into The Grossman Center to be treated for burns on his face, neck, chest, hands and left arm. “When he came in, his burns were deeper than I anticipated,” Leno’s surgeon, Dr. Peter Grossman, told the publication. “Jay is definitely an outlier in terms of how well he’s healed considering the severity of his injuries.” Leno also reportedly refused taking pain medication, joking in the interview, “The pain is a reminder that I’m an idiot!” “I know how bad it could have been,” he added. “But I’m okay. And I’m sure I’ll continue to do the same stupid things I’ve always done. Just maybe a little bit more carefully.” Leno is also expected to appear in an upcoming televised interview with NBC News’ Hoda Kotb, where he talks more about the harrowing experience of realizing he was on fire. The interview is set to air on NBC News’ Today show on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
