ADR Responds to Explosion, Chip Fire

One person was airlifted from Delco this morning after an acetylene explosion.

Chief Steve Camlin of Acme-Delco-Riegelwood Fire and Rescue said the patient was flown directly from the scene to UNC Burn Center. He suffered second degree burns over much of his body from the waist up. The accident happened just before noon.

When the explosion call came in, firefighters had barely caught their breath from a chip fire at the West Frasier Saw Mill last night.

Camlin said the fire at the mill was originally called in as a boiler room fire. Instead, the blaze turned out to have begun in a pile of wood chips used to fuel the boiler.

The chips apparently spontaneously combusted, causing a fire in a fuel pile against one of the buildings.

ADR was assisted by Buckhead, Bolton, and Northwest firefighters. The chip fire took more than two hours to extinguish.