Vallejo Times Herald
NAPA, Calif. — A Napa County Jail inmate was severely burned when he set himself on fire in his cell Wednesday night, officials announced Thursday.
The 8 p.m. incident prompted the temporary relocation of about 100 other inmates, Napa County spokeswoman Elizabeth Emmett said.
Vernon Cannon, 29, who had been incarcerated since Sept. 14 on an assault with a deadly weapon charge at Napa State Hospital, used electricity to set his clothes on fire, Emmett said. He suffered second- and third-degree burns, but to what percentage of his body was not immediately known, she said.
Jail staff called 911 and the Napa Fire Department and Napa County Sheriff’s deputies responded.
Smoke from the small fire, which was contained within Cannon’s cell, required that inmates from the third floor be transferred to other parts of the jail, Emmett said.
Cannon was taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital and then airlifted to the burn unit at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, she said.
No one else was injured, she said.
Hospital officials said they have no patient registered under the name Vernon Cannon.
The Napa County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident.
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