PROSPERITY — A woman was seriously burned in Prosperity late Wednesday afternoon.

Emergency officials from the Prosperity Fire and Rescue departments and the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office were called to Long Street around dusk.

Prosperity Rescue Squad Chief Robert Dennis says that somehow the 36-year-old woman’s coat became drenched in gas and then came in contact with an open flame or cigarette.

Dennis says the incident does not appear to be criminal but more that she may have stumbled over a gas can and an accident.

The woman was in a garage or shop outside the home.

The woman received “very serious” burns from the chest upwards, said Dennis.

Medical crews had hoped to fly the woman to a regional hospital for treatment but weather conditions would not allow that.

She was taken to Lexington Hospital for initial treatment.

Prosperity Fire Chief Mark Bowers says there was no fire when his crews arrived on the scene.

The woman was reportedly at her mother’s and stepfather’s home and was moving to the area when the incident occurred.