ROXBURY -- A Strong family will be spending the next two to three weeks at the Shriners Hospital for Children after a container of fuel caught fire and exploded, burning an eight-year old boy.

Michael Martin, his sister, Makayla, and his parents, Amy and Tim, of Strong, were visiting relatives. Makayla's 10th birthday was Sunday, and the family was enjoying a get-together at the home of Tim Martin's grandfather, James Gallant.

Apparently, Michael's father used a plastic container of an undetermined type of accelerant to start a campfire, according to Roxbury Fire Chief Raymond Carver of Mexico. The container caught fire and exploded, burning Michael, who was standing nearby.

"The fire marshal is investigating, but this was just a terrible accident and was never meant to happen," Carver said by phone on Sunday.

The boy was taken to Rumford Hospital, and Med-Care Ambulance drove him to the Shriners Burn Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Ordinarily, a LifeFlight helicopter could have flown the family to Boston, but weather made that option unsafe.

Tim Martin's aunt, Andrea Adams of Phillips, reported Sunday night after she left the hospital, that her great-nephew "was doing as well as could be expected."

Amy's parents, Karen and Smoky Gallant of Rumford, and Tim's parents, Deborah Martin of Farmington and Rodney Martin of Rangeley, were in Boston with the family, Adams said.

"Michael would appreciate getting cards and pictures from friends," she said. "His hands are bandaged, and doctors said he's burned on about 24 percent of his body."

The address is Shriners Hospital for Children, Acute Care Unit, 51 Blossom St., Boston, MA 02114.