A small fire scorched a worker at the Columbia University Medical Center Friday morning, burning over 70 percent of his body. Following the incident, he and two other injured workers were rushed to the nearby Harlem Hospital, which has a burn center.
The worker was in a mechanical room cleaning a domestic hot water tank when an explosion erupted into a flash fire at 9:44 this morning, according to a spokesperson for the New York Fire Department. While the workers were using alcohol solution to clean the tank, someone turned on a halogen lamp, which the FDNY says interacted with vapors from the solution to ignite the flames.
The most severe injury was incurred by the worker who suffered burns to more than 70 percent of his body. The FDNY identified him as "red tag," meaning that he suffered a serious injury. Another worker hurt his arms and hands while trying to help the first man get out of the burning tank, and a third person was taken to the hospital for observation regarding minor respiratory injuries.
A brief statement released by CUMC on Friday afternoon explained that "an accident in a Columbia University medical school building this morning injured three outside contractors who were performing routine maintenance" and added that "the FDNY is managing the incident."
Alex Lyda, a spokesperson for CUMC, said that the three workers were hired from Acid Waste Management, a contracting firm in Yonkers.
No one else, including patients, has been affected by the fire. The FDNY confirmed that the fire was confined to the room in which the tank was located, and that the flames burned through the alcohol solution without causing any further damage.
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