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It's a thrilll to be set on fire

With all the pressure from classes, everyone has thought about lighting him or herself on fire and jumping off a three-story building.

But Xavier Guerrero is one man who's not only done it once, but again and again. And he's gotten paid for it.

"It's a thrill, not only the sense that you're on fire, but to be jumping," said Guerrero, who plunges off of a 36-foot-tall building as part of a stage show in Nightfall. The show is every night this month at Old Tucson Studios.

"It's also a thrill to perform in front of all those people."

During its peak weekend nights, as many as 4,000 thrill seekers flock to Nightfall. Guerrero plays the stunt double for the character Dr. Jebediah Hyde. When it's Hyde's turn to die, the regular actor walks down a tower via stairwell while Guerrero replaces him, lights up, then takes the plunge off the side of the building.

That's pretty much it - Guerrero's glory. His flames are usually extinguished when he hits a tarp which covers a pool of water meant to break his fall.

"I wouldn't even know I was on fire unless someone says something," Guerrero said. "I'm just so cold after I come down."

That's mostly because Guerrero is just about freezing to death.

In the hour that it takes him to prepare for each plunge, Guerrero lathers himself up with Action Fire Gel, available at your nearest... fire... gel... shop, which brings the temperature on the outside of his skin to levels which could induce hypothermia.

Guerrero puts on his flame-suit, then he's ready to roll. He lights himself on fire and takes the plunge. It takes 2.3 seconds to hit the landing pad, then usually about 0.3 seconds for Guerrero to wipe the freezing gel off his body.

Guerrero loves to act, but he realizes that his chances of making a career of burn-jumping are slim. With slightly sad eyes, he spurts out a fact, "Did you know that less than one percent of the people in the Screen Actor's Guild actually have acting roles?"

So it's almost certain that Guerrero's future is in the world of mechanical engineering. He already spends most of his life doing this - he carries a 17-unit upper-division load and works for a mechanical engineering firm downtown - but for at least a few seconds most nights, he's an actor.

During those 2.3 seconds, Guerrero is literally on fire. And if you look close enough, you'll see a wild, crazy flash of a smile.