A nursing home resident in North Carolina who uses an oxygen machine received severe burns and nearly prompted an evacuation Saturday after lighting a cigarette, firefighters said.
Burlington firefighters responding to a report of a possible fire in the building at 3 a.m. instead found smoke in a room and hallway, according to a news release from the Burlington Fire Department.
Firefighters and ambulance personnel immediately provided assistance to the victim. The police arrived and helped move everyone else into shelters, away from the smoke.
“Medical oxygen supplied at 100% will rapidly accelerate combustion and can ignite in the presence of a flame, such as from a cigarette,” fire officials warned in a news release.
Employees at the Hilton Road facility activated the fire alarm when they saw smoke and began evacuation procedures in accordance with the facility’s emergency plan, firefighters said.
The fire department is not naming the facility.
The burn patient was taken to an area hospital and then to the burn unit at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where the person was listed in stable condition, according to the fire department.
A resident of a nursing home in the North Kingdom burned in a fire of oxygen and cigarettes
Source link A resident of a nursing home in the North Kingdom burned in a fire of oxygen and cigarettes