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 .
Kemery , 44 , was reliably told by a friend that rubbing alcohol was an effective way to kill bedbugs .