Worker In Coma After Fire.......

Movable equipment in our industry is common no matter what type of facility. Movable equipment fires can occur for any number of reasons. For instance this past summer, molten metal spilled onto a forklift truck in the United States. The molten metal caught the vehicle on fire, but the operator was able to exit without injury. The following story illustrates the importance of the operator being able to exit quickly when the equipment catches on fire.

A man has been burned across 20 per cent of his body in a fire at a scrap metal yard in New South Wales, Australia during the week of December 9, 2012. 

The worker was operating a machine to move scrap metal at a yard, when during the evening an explosion occurred.

A fire broke out and the worker managed to get free from the console of the excavator, but not before the worker suffered serious burns. 

A New South Wales Fire & Rescue spokesperson on Friday night said six crews were called out to fight the fire.

"It's scrap metal so it has oil, plastics, paint....but then once you heat up the aluminium then it  will burn as well" said the Fire & Rescue spokesperson.

The injured equipment operator remains in a stable condition in an induced coma at a nearby hospital with burns to 20 percent of his body.

The fire was contained and extinguished by early Saturday morning, police said. Investigators will look into the cause of the fire.