NORTHAMPTON - A 47-year-old city woman suffered serious burns after apparently lighting herself on fire behind a Pleasant Street building early today.

Police declined to release the woman's name. She was taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield with second and third-degree burns on the lower half of her body. Her condition could not be determined this morning.

"We don't believe it's life threatening," Police Captain Scott Savino said.

The woman was spotted on fire at around 6:45 a.m. near the rear of 518 Pleasant St. by Northampton Det. Lt. Kenneth Watson who was on his way to work. Watson found the woman naked and burned and her clothes on the ground nearby. The commercial building is located next to the Shell gas station.

Police said the woman had bought a bottle of STP Gas treatment at the gas station, which she appears to have used to set herself on fire.