Fatal Burn Accident: The estate of a 32 year old man who died of burns suffered in a fire at a Bound Brook chemical plant settled its wrongful death suit for $5 million. The plaintiff was working as a night security guard when he responded to an alarm in a building where chemicals were being mixed in a large cast iron mill. As he approached the building the door flew open and engulfed him in flames, according the plaintiff’s attorney Raymond Gill Jr. of Gill and Chamas in Woodbridge. The plaintiff suffered second and third degree burns on 80 percent of his body and was hospitalized for 64 days at St. Barnabas Medical Center before dying of organ failure.
Second-degree burns, which are partial thickness burns) affect the epidermis and the lower layer of skin. They cause pain, redness, swelling, and blistering. Third–degree burns, which are full thickness burns, go through the dermis or the lowest layer of skin and affect deeper tissues. They result in white or blackened, charred skin that may be numb. The mill that exploded was 45 years old and prone to leaks. The defendant had recently refurbished the machine rather than have it replaced, and did not properly test it before reinstallation, Gill says.
