Jay Leno tells how his 1907 steam car burst into flames and shares new photos of his horrific burns

Former ‘Tonight Show’ host Jay Leno opens for the first time after suffering burns when the steam engine he was working on caught fire.

Leno, 72, shared new photos with Hoda Kotb of TODAY on Wednesday and showed the horrific burns on his face as he relived the ordeal.

The iconic TV host and his friend Dave Killackey were working on one of their beloved vintage cars at their Los Angeles mansion on November 12 when their 1907 White Steam Car burst into flames.

Leno credits his friend Killackey with saving his life. Killackey sprang into action and wrapped his arms around Leno, dousing the fire.

Leno was rushed to the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, where he was treated for third-degree burns and released 10 days later.

Leno, 72, shared new photos with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb on Wednesday showing the horrific burns on his face as he relived the ordeal.

Leno recalled the terrifying accident on the TODAY Show on Wednesday.

“It was a white steam car from 1907,” Leno reminded Kotb. ‘The fuel line was clogged so I was under it. It seemed clogged and I said, ‘Blow some air through the line,’ and it did.’

“And all of a sudden, boom, my face was gassy,” he continued. “And then the pilot light went off and my face caught fire.”

‘And I said to my friend, ‘Dave, I’m on fire.’ And Dave goes, ‘Okay.

I said, ‘No, Dave, I’m on fire.’ And then, ‘Oh my gosh. Dave, my friend, pulled me out and jumped on top of me and put out the fire,” Leno said.

Killackey, who also appeared on the TODAY Show, opened up about what he did to help his friend.

“I grabbed his head and pulled him to my chest,” she recalled. I started to put out the fire.

Temporary skin grafts of ‘human cadaver skin’ were added to the comedian’s body, Dr Peter Grossman said Leno suffered ‘relatively severe’ burns to ‘about 7 per cent of his body’

He performed skin grafts on the star, removing the burned skin and replacing it with skin from a skin bank. She noted that ‘much of the thickness of the skin was injured’

After saving Leno’s entire body from being engulfed in flames, he put out the fire in the car.

When Kotb asked him how bad he thought his friend’s injuries were, he replied ‘well, it wasn’t good’.

‘He makes light of it,’ he said looking at Leno. But it was awful. It was terrifying. When the first two layers [of skin] they are peeling off at the moment, this is a problem.

Dr. Peter Grossman told NBC News that Leno suffered “relatively severe” burns to “about seven percent of his body,” including his face, chest and hands.

He performed skin grafts on the star, removing the burned skin and replacing it with skin from a skin bank. She noted that “much of the thickness of the skin was injured.”

Leno’s friend, Dave Killackey, also appeared on the TODAY Show and talked about what he did to help his friend by suffocating Leno’s body so it would continue to go up in flames.

Leno had previously shared details about his extensive collection on Barrons.com, sharing more details about how he acquired the myriad of old-school cars.

Following the incident inside his garage, Leno canceled a Las Vegas performance scheduled for the next day after event organizers revealed he suffered a “serious medical emergency.”

Leno had previously shared details about his extensive collection of Barrons.com, sharing more details about how he acquired the old-school car lot.

The steam carriages, which he said are “reliable and dependable,” require a boiler to heat water into steam which is then used to drive a piston that turns the vehicle’s wheels.

In 2021, the ‘Tonight Show’ veteran was pulled over in his 1906 Stanley Steamer for speeding on Interstate 405 in California.

Leno’s steam collection includes “cars, stationary engines, and even a massive Advance steam tractor,” according to the 2021 story published by Barrons.

Following the incident inside his garage, he canceled a Las Vegas performance scheduled for the next day after event organizers revealed he suffered a “serious medical emergency.”

The Jay Leno’s Garage star owns more than 180 vehicles, including exotics, hypercars and museum artifacts, according to US News & World Report.

His collection includes affordable and attainable vehicles, with an affinity for motorized vehicles.