A man who tried to light a cigarette using a propane torch set off an explosion that started a fire in his detached garage Sunday. He is hospitalized in critical condition with third-degree burns.

Neighbors told Channel 6 News they heard an explosion prior to the fire breaking out just before 5 p.m. at North 33rd Street and Curtis Avenue, west of Miller Park.

“I thought my house was going to get on fire and I got my grandkids with me and I was crying, I was scared,” says neighbor Maria Duarte.

It was the sounds of the fire residents can't forget. “I heard a boom and I thought someone was coming up through my house, through my basement,” says neighbor Al Siebert.

As medics loaded Tim Green into an ambulance, he told neighbors he tried to light his cigarette with a propane torch. "He said that thing just exploded right on his face and he had third-degree burns because he had blisters on his face already, but he was like in shock because he didn't even feel the pain.”

Shock neighbors and friends like Maria Duarte say they understand after what they saw. “It hurts, it hurts, he's gonna have his face deformed real bad. He has blisters, his hair is all gone.”

Firefighters worked quickly to extinguish the fire, but something inside the garage fought back. “When the resident came out of the house and he was burned, he did tell the firefighters that there were two bottles of propane inside the garage,” says Omaha Fire Assistant Chief Joe Gibilisco.

The propane caused secondary explosions that only made matters worse.

The fire department said Sunday night that because of Green's condition they have been unable to interview him at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Neighbors say their thoughts are with with their friend. “It hurts my heart," says Duarte. "I wish I would have been there to help him, but I can't, I didn't even know it happened."