Police in New York say a man seriously burned himself when he covered a rental car with alcohol to kill bedbugs and then lit a cigarette inside the car. Scott Kemery, 44, was rushed by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island with first and second degree burns after accidentally setting himself on fire on Tuesday. Police said that Kemery, who is from Bridgehampton, started the blaze with his ill-timed cigarette break in the parking lot of the King Kullen supermarket in Eastport. Scene: Scott Kemery gave himself first and second degree burns after he set fire to himself by mistake in the parking lot of the King Kullen supermarket in Eastport on Tuesday . Kemery, told police that he rented the car in Florida and drove north to the Hamptons and discovered the car had bedbugs. He said that a friend had explained to him the best way to kill bedbugs was to douse them in alcohol. Inspired, Kemery did just that. However, he then made the near fatal mistake of getting into the car and lighting his cigarette, thereby igniting the alchol and setting himself on fire. Bedbugs: Mr. Kemery had been reliably informed by a friend that the best way to kill bedbugs was to douse them in alcohol. He did not think not to light a cigarette in his car afterwards was a bad idea . Authorities said that they did not believe the fire was criminal in nature and that they were not going to pursue an investigation. Police told Newsday that two other cars were heavily damaged from the flames of the fire.
Scott Kemery, 44, was reliably told by a friend that rubbing alcohol was an effective way to kill bedbugs .