A Reporoa man has recounted how his fishing trip with mates went up in flames after being caught in a fuel explosion.

Adrian Gidlow's story on the Philips Search and Rescue Trust website explains how the Tauranga-based Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter helped aid the 45-year-old's recovery after sustaining serious burns to his legs, arms and abdomen.

The boat caught fire when Adrian Gidlow was refuelling at Gull in Paengaroa. Photo: Erina Crichton.

Adrian and his two friends, in January, were on their way to a weekend fishing trip, boat in tow, when they stopped at the Gull Petrol Station in Paengaroato fuel the boat.

'There was some fuel on the floor of the boat.I was in there cleaning it up and something ignited the fuel. Suddenly, whoosh, up it went,” says Adrian.

The boat was quickly towed over to the rest area, a safe distance away, and staff helped pull Adrian out of the boat and doused him with a hose.

Adrian kept cool water running over his burns until the ambulance arrived, which was followed shortly after by the Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter.

The helicopter swiftly transported Adrian to Waikato Hospital where he stayed for 24 days.

Adrian ended up with first-degree burns to his arms, hands and stomach, with more serious burns from his knees down to his feet, which required skin grafts to his leg.

'Let's just say my sock modelling days are over,” laughs Adrian.'But other than that it will have no long lasting effects and I now just make periodic visits to the outpatients' clinic.”

'From being all excited about a weekend's fishing to being rescued by the chopper and flown to hospital, it was certainly a dramatic change to my weekend.”

Gull general manager Dave Bodger at the time told SunLive the nozzle went into the rod holder instead of the fuel tank and following this there was an ignition and an explosion.

The service station was closed for several hours as specialist contractors tries to determine the cause of the incident.