A classic car restorer suffered appalling injuries after a car he was repairing caught fire while he was underneath it.
Chris Williams-Ellis sustained horrific injuries in the accident at his home on September 8 and was rushed to the specialist burns unit at Whiston Hospital.
The self-employed car restorer, 40, who would meet with fellow car enthusiasts at Liverpool's waterfront was initially given just a 50:50 chance of survival.
He has recently been able to be taken off a life support machine and is now awake but remains in intensive care, having undergone skin grafts on his arms and hands.
Mr Williams-Ellis' partner, Catherine Stewart had to pull him free from the blaze and also suffered burn injuries and smoke inhalation.
The north Wales man's distraught family, who lives in Corwen, Denbighshire, has demanded to know why it took two hours for an ambulance to reach him, a delay which the Welsh Ambulance Service has agreed was "unacceptable."
Ms Stewart said: "Chris was involved in a freak accident which caused a fire to take hold in a barn at our property.
"Chris was underneath a car when something unknown caused a spark and this in turn set fire to Chris. I managed to pull Chris, who was very badly burned, out from under the car and called emergency services.
"I then watched helplessly as the fire engulfed everything in the barn, including a number of vehicles, all Chris’s tools and the roof.
"The fire brigade arrived and set about heroically tackling the blaze. However, they were unaware that anyone had been injured in the fire, and repeatedly called for an ambulance once they arrived.
"Throughout this delay for medical assistance, I was both helping the fire service to tackle the blaze whilst also attempting to treat Chris’s extensive burns.
"Once of the fire crew established how long the ambulance would be, someone contacted the Welsh Air Ambulance, which is a charity service.
"After a long 2.5 hour wait from the initial 999 call, Chris was airlifted to hospital, where he was found to have sustained burns to nearly 40% of his body."
Mr Williams-Ellis' friend Kyle Moffitt, 18, from Prescot, shares his love of classic cars and they would gather together for Cars and Coffee events, on the last Sunday of each month, close to the Chung Ku Chinese restaurant on the city's waterfront.
Last Friday, Kyle rode 41 miles in a charity cycle, to mark Chris' 41st birthday raising hundreds of pounds which will go to his recovery.
His mum Tracy told the ECHO: "Kyle is devastated about what happened to his friend. They knew each other through the super car community.
"They kept in touch regularly, but Chris suddenly went quiet, so Kyle got in touch with Catherine who told him there'd been an accident. He was upset. I'm proud that he's done this. We're all praying that Chris comes through."
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Ms Stewart added: "He will be in hospital for a long time to receive ongoing treatment and rehabilitation. And this journey will continue for the rest of his life.
"As a self-employed classic car restorer and painter by trade, his hands are key to his livelihood, so we are praying that the damage he has sustained isn’t too extensive and that he will overcome any injuries both physically and mentally to be able to work again doing the job he loves.
"He is the most hard-working, generous and fun-loving person I have ever met, with a heart of gold and will go out of his way to help anyone and everyone."
The chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service, Jason Killens, said: "Given the very serious nature of what happened, an investigation to determine the exact sequence of events and the cause of the unacceptable delay - for which we are very sorry - is being prioritised and concluded as swiftly as possible.
"We are an organisation committed to learning and improvement, and have offered to meet the Williams-Ellis family to take them through our findings and any lessons identified in full."
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