August 28- A fire at a South Park manufacturing plant which burned one employee is being called an accidental fire caused by a vapor fire.
At 2:30 p.m. a plant employee called dispatchers at the Fire Alarm Center to report a fire with a burn victim at an industrial building in the 500 block of South Monroe Street. When South Park Engine Company 26 arrived, they found white smoke coming from a 2-story industrial building. All of the employees safely evacuated.
Once inside, firefighters did not find any fire.
Witnesses told firefighters that an employee drove the burn patient to Harborview Medical Center in a personal car. The approximately 40-year-old burn patient arrived at Harborview with 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his arms, hands and face.
The cause of the fire was an employee using an open flame to melt plastic tubing that contained isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol vapors ignited causing the burn to the employee and $10,000 in damage to the contents of the building.