A man suffered burns when his boat caught fire at Lake Shasta. At 5 O’clock Saturday afternoon Cal-Fire and Shasta County boating deputies were called to the Jones Valley Public Boat Launch. 61-year-old Niles Bennett had fueled up his 1976 Eliminator ski boat in Redding before heading out to the lake. He put the boat in the water, parked his truck, then came back and ran the blower for 2 or 3 minutes to clear the gas fumes before starting the motor. It ran for a couple of minutes before Bennett untied it from the dock. As he was untying the bow line with one leg in the boat when he heard a whooosh sound and felt flames on his body. He got away from the boat quickly but he had already suffered burns to his arms and legs and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. The boat was completely engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. The sheriff’s office recommends clearing gas fumes by running a boat’s blower for at least ten minutes before starting it up.