He has a fever, and his throat burns as if it were on fire.
Tips
usage
Mostly found inside two idioms: 火烧火燎 (burning hot; frantic with worry) and 心急火燎 (burning with anxiety). Here 燎 is liǎo "to singe", as when hair gets too close to a flame. Read liáo, it means a fire spreading across the land, as in 燎原.