Flash Fire

Two men were severely burned yesterday in a flash fire that erupted while they were cleaning the basement of an old loading dock in the city's Frankford section. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion and then immediately seeing the fire in the 1600 block of Unity Street, just east of Frankford Avenue, shortly after noon. One of the victims ran out of the building. Neighbors rushed to his aid to put out the flames. Tullis Jackson, 51, of the 6000 block of Nassau Road, suffered third-degree burns over 35 percent of his body, mostly his legs, said Executive Fire Chief Henry Dolberry.

A Philadelphia Electric Co. lineman suffered critical burns when an equipment failure in an underground high-voltage line he was repairing caused a flash fire in Springfield on Monday. Dennis M. Gleason, 32, of Warminster, was severely burned on his right hand and arm, and less severely burned on his face, according to a PE spokesman. He was flown from the scene by Med-evac helicopter to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition yesterday. A hospital spokeswoman said he suffered burns over 17 percent of his body.

A chemist's efforts to extinguish a flash fire at the United Chemical Technologies plant yesterday triggered the release of a cloud of hydrochloric acid and forced the evacuation of the facility and surrounding businesses. The plant, at 2731 Bartram Rd. in the Keystone Industrial Park, has been the site of several mishaps, the most serious a June 1994 blast and fire that sent 39 people to local hospitals and forced a massive evacuation of the area. Yesterday's incident, said Fire Marshal Edward Copper, occurred shortly after 11 a.m., when a chemist was pouring the chemical trichlorosilane, a flammable corrosive used as a silicon source, from a large container into a glass mixing container.

A flash fire that severely burned a worker at the old Frankford Arsenal on Monday afternoon has led to a contamination scare for several coworkers and 34 city firefighters, authorities said yesterday. Firefighters who handled the blaze inside a building being converted into a charter school fear that they may have been exposed to the suspected carcinogen PCB, and a union official yesterday said they wanted an independent test of their equipment. Although the fire was declared under control in less than a half-hour, a Fire Department test at the scene detected PCBs.

A chemical-plant worker remained in critical condition yesterday at the Crozer-Chester burn center after suffering burns over 40 percent of his body Monday evening in a flash fire at Rhone-Poulenc Inc. on South Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Delaware River. Fire officials said the fire occurred at 6:45 p.m. as Steve Rourk, 30, of Fairless Hills, was cleaning a granulator used in the processing of phosphorous sulfide. Fellow workers led the injured Rourk from the three-story structure.

Two homes were severely damaged and a Jeffersonville man suffered second- degree burns last week in three fires in Phoenixville and Tredyffrin Township. In the Tredyffrin fire, five firefighters suffered minor injuries in a two- alarm house fire April 2. The fire broke out about 12:37 a.m. in the utility room in the 700 block of Worthington Road and was brought under control about 1:44 a.m., said Rob Schnoor, Berwyn deputy fire chief. Investigators believe the fire was caused by an electrical problem.

A 59-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy were injured yesterday when a gas stove the man was lighting with a match burst into flames inside a home in East Mount Airy, fire officials said. The flash fire occurred at 11:51 a.m. in a home in the 6600 block of Chew Avenue. It was brought under control in about 10 minutes, said Executive Chief Daniel Williams of the Philadelphia Fire Department. The man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with second-degree burns to the face and neck, Williams said.

A flash fire that burned three people at the Middletown Grange Fair has been blamed on the exposure of a propane gas tank to direct sunlight in record high temperatures along with the close proximity of a cooking grill, Deputy Bucks County Fire Marshal Nicholas Rafferty said yesterday. Rafferty, who was at the fair distributing fire safety tips at a county government tent when the mishap occurred at 2:25 p.m. Saturday, joined other rescue workers in aiding the injured and then began an immediate investigation of the fire, which occurred in a food concession operated by the Upper Makefield Business Association.

A mysterious "flash fire" ignited a series of explosions at a propane gas company yesterday afternoon, sending heavy metal shrapnel hurtling across Route 73 traffic and a fiery mushroom of flame and black smoke billowing into the sky. One person was injured in the incident, an unidentified employee of Star Gas Co. on Route 73, who suffered minor burn injuries to his arm, said Burlington County Fire Marshal Bob Rose. The employee was treated at the scene and released, he said. Officials from Star Gas would not comment.

A pharmaceutical researcher was recovering yesterday at Temple University Hospital from burns he suffered during a flash fire at a laboratory Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The man suffered second- and third-degree burns on his face, hands and abdomen when a bottle of aliphatic hydrocarbon broke in a fourth-floor lab at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, said Greg Panico, a company spokesman. The victim has been identified as Lorenti Bonaga of Hatfield.

Once upon a time in the Valley called Happy, there lived a man with monarch powers. And with these powers he bestowed upon the Valley great wealth and fame and philanthropy and enviable reputation, and buildings for football warriors and diligent scholars. And as the Valley prospered, so did the monarch's authority grow, until whenever someone sought to inquire about the monolithic football program, the monarch would snarl: "It's nobody's business. " But maybe it should have been.

As Sunday's expiration of their contract with Sunoco Inc. nears, workers at the company's Philadelphia and Marcus Hook refineries yesterday stepped up efforts to protest staffing cutbacks they say will endanger workers and nearby neighborhoods. Several hundred refinery workers rallied outside Philadelphia's City Hall, then marched to Sunoco's headquarters. Union officials said they presented petitions against the cutbacks signed by about 2,000 people who live near the refineries.

City Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said yesterday the removal of a basement stairway that might have enabled the escape of seven people killed in a fire late Friday in Southwest Philadelphia did not appear to be a code violation. Though the official cause of the fire has not been announced, it appears a mishandled kerosene heater set off an inferno that trapped the seven victims, who could not flee out the finished basement's single back door. A year-old child was the only one found still alive, but he died within an hour at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

When police and fire officials entered a burning Upper Chichester apartment on Sunday, they discovered a one-bedroom rental filled with boxes of chemicals and an open two-gallon container of gasoline. What kind of chemicals they are and what they were to be used for is still under investigation, according to officials. "We really don't know a lot yet," said Dave Holland, Upper Chichester fire marshal. "With the amount of chemical there, we don't know what was going on. " On Sunday, police were asked to check on the welfare of David Wargny, 32, whose parents in Palmyra had not been able to reach him in a week.

A 59-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy were injured yesterday when a gas stove the man was lighting with a match burst into flames inside a home in East Mount Airy, fire officials said. The flash fire occurred at 11:51 a.m. in a home in the 6600 block of Chew Avenue. It was brought under control in about 10 minutes, said Executive Chief Daniel Williams of the Philadelphia Fire Department. The man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with second-degree burns to the face and neck, Williams said.

Jimmy Heenan's fire gear was supposed to protect him. Instead, the firefighter's family says, it failed him when he needed it most. While crawling into a burning West Deptford house in 2001, Heenan fell through a collapsing kitchen floor and was trapped under debris in the basement for at least 20 minutes. He died from burns three months later. Since his death, new questions have been raised about the safety of his gear, as firefighters from seven other departments around the country have suffered strange burns.

A pharmaceutical researcher was recovering yesterday at Temple University Hospital from burns he suffered during a flash fire at a laboratory Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The man suffered second- and third-degree burns on his face, hands and abdomen when a bottle of aliphatic hydrocarbon broke in a fourth-floor lab at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, said Greg Panico, a company spokesman. The victim has been identified as Lorenti Bonaga of Hatfield.

Teddy Dupay, a former guard for the Florida basketball team, is listed as an uncharged co-defendant in a sworn complaint, accused of giving information about the Gators to a friend who allegedly bet on their basketball games. Dupay would not face criminal charges based on the information in the complaint, a source familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press. Last Friday, Florida declared Dupay ineligible on the same day university police announced they had closed their investigation "into allegations of minor gambling infractions by a University of Florida student.

A flash fire that severely burned a worker at the old Frankford Arsenal on Monday afternoon has led to a contamination scare for several coworkers and 34 city firefighters, authorities said yesterday. Firefighters who handled the blaze inside a building being converted into a charter school fear that they may have been exposed to the suspected carcinogen PCB, and a union official yesterday said they wanted an independent test of their equipment. Although the fire was declared under control in less than a half-hour, a Fire Department test at the scene detected PCBs.