An 11-year-old boy is at Grady Memorial Hospital after receiving burns to his face, chest and arms at his Habersham County home, an official said.

“Initial arriving units found the child with an estimated 30 percent burns that included face, chest, abdomen and hand,” Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black said.

“Adults at the scene advised the child had a lighter and bottle of isopropyl alcohol in the bathroom when they heard what was described as a loud noise, explosion-type sound, from this area.”

Authorities determined the injuries where severe enough that the boy, who has not been identified, be flown by helicopter to Grady, Cornelia police said.

According to police, the boy was actually trying to burn a piece of paper Sunday night.

“There are videos on YouTube that ‘show’ viewers how to light paper that has been saturated with rubbing alcohol and then the paper is waved around in order to extinguish the flames,” police said on Facebook. “If done ‘properly’ the paper shows no sign of being burned.

“The juvenile’s attempt in re-creating this caused the bottle of alcohol to explode, resulting in the damage to the house and his burns,” police said.

In other news:

Police say a man was pulled over and robbed by a man posing as a Clayton County Sheriff's Deputy.

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Flights are shown cancelled on a screen at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport domestic terminal in Atlanta on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. Cancellations at the Atlanta airport got worse over the weekend, as about 370 flights were canceled Saturday and about another 470 more by Sunday. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

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