I felt like my face was going to pop

Fire breather tells Paige Oldfield of the terrifying moment she went up in flames during act in US

- 

ENSURING there was enough space on stage, checking the air con was switched off, a damp towel on standby for emergencies.

Sophie Lee had done everything right.

Despite taking up fire-breathing just a year before, the 22-year-old couldn't wait to perform at a huge event in Chicago.

The show had gone perfectly until the final act. As Sophie took a deep breath in, a fireball blew back at her, her face and chest instantly going up in flames.

It later came to light that someone had turned the air conditioning on, devastating Sophie's performance in the most tragic of ways.

Struggling to recall the moments following the accident, the next thing she remembers is waking up in a hospital bed.

"My face just felt like a balloon," she told the M.E.N. "Like when you overfill a water balloon and you know any minute it's going to pop. I felt like it was going to pop."

Sophie spent a month undergoing intensive care in the US while receiving major treatment for her burns.