Man on fire filmed crossing New York street

Skin-crawling footage has emerged of a man on fire running through the streets of New York after his preparation for a hookah binge went awry.

The CCTV footage shows the hapless victim, consumed by smoke, crossing the Brooklyn block at about 1.40pm yesterday.

"Stop, drop and roll!" another man screamed, as panicked neighbours approached the man with fire extinguishers to snuff the blaze out, witnesses would later tell New York Daily News.

According to police, the unidentified 22-year-old man accidentally set himself alight inside a nearby vacant storefront while drying tobacco leaves.

He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and later transferred to a burns unit for further treatment.

"He was really badly burned," an FDNY source said, adding that an investigation into the cause of the explosion was underway.

Neighbours believe the victim was using a combination of acetone and coconut oil to prepare the leaves for his hookah pipe.

The fumes from the chemicals ignited with the pilot light from a basement water heater, they told the newspaper.