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Flash Fire Injures Three Workers, Halogen Lamp Blamed
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 26, 2009
Modified Jun 26, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 26, 2009
Modified Jun 26, 2009
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A freaky flash fire in a mechanical room of a building on the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital campus left a maintenance worker with burns over 70 percent of his body this morning. A little before 10 a.m. workers were cleaning a domestic hot water tank in a 22nd-floor room, when, suddenly, there was "a little bit of an explosion and a flash fire," according to an FDNY spokesman. City Room reports that vapors from the cleaning solution were ignited after someone turned on a halogen lamp inside the drained tank. Accidents are not uncommon with halogen bulbs, which can reach temperatures as high as 1000 degrees and easily ignite any combustible material nearby. While they are more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, some have called for them to be banned; two years ago a rash of fires in Australia prompted one firefighter to call halogens "a bloody nightmare." All three workers injured in today's blaze were rushed to Harlem Hospital. One worker injured his arms and hands when he tried to pull the first man out of the tank, and the third suffered respiratory injuries.
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columbia-presbyterian hospital
flash fire
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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