Brian Cross, 17, was in serious condition at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital Medical Center, with second- and third-degree burns over 38 percent of his body, mostly on the upper torso, doctors said.
Brian, breathing with help from a respirator, is expected to undergo more than one of round of surgery to repair the damage.
"His condition is serious," Dr. Richard Grossman said. "It's not critical, but it's a serious one. But when you're dealing with somebody with 40 (percent) burns ... you act and treat it very very cautiously."
Tyler Haureiter, 16, suffered lesser burns to his face and neck. His prognosis is good, Grossman said.
"They never will be the way they were before," Grossman told the Los Angeles Times. "But our job is to make them as close to that as possible."
Both are scheduled for skin graft surgery Monday, with Cross probably needing at least one more operation later in the week. His burns could take a year or more to heal, Grossman said.
The accident happened about 7:30 a.m. during a supervised experiment using methyl alcohol, sometimes called wood alcohol.
One student said a boy apparently "lit one of the matches and it hit the fumes and it caught his shirt on fire."
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