He was set on fire and burned over more than 45 to 50 percent of his body. His response was that he would never know for sure, but he noted that it took him a minute or two to clear his eyes before he could see well enough to run toward a safe area. He does know that it was the flame-retardant clothing that he was wearing that probably saved his life. His arms, however, are severely scarred from burns he received because he had the sleeves of his flame-retardant clothing rolled up, which was against the company's safety rules. He rolled up his sleeves and showed the audience the scars.
Accidents happen to the other guy.
To fit in with other guys, Morecraft said he shunned both safety procedures and equipment opting instead to take shortcuts, such as the one that caused him to be doused with the chemical. The next five years of Morecraft's life were spent in hospitals. He spoke of slowly and painfully progressing from the intensive burn unit to rehabilitation to more than 20 reconstructive bone and tissue surgeries, until he was finally read to go home. While he takes full responsibility for his accident now, he said this was not always the case. Even after leaving hospital, he said he continued to blame others for his accident.