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FF Injured by Electric Saw While Fighting Blaze
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The Trentonian via YellowBrix
May 06, 2010
CHESTERFIELD, NJ — A firefighter suffered a severe arm laceration from an electric saw while helping battle a three-alarm blaze at the site of the township’s new elementary school yesterday.
He was in guarded condition late last night waiting to go into the operating room in Capital Health Regional’s trauma unit in Trenton. The volunteer for Chesterfield Fire Company was not identified.
(The fire was part of a wild day for the township during which cops critically wounded a disturbed man who allegedly came at them with a knife.)
The 10:30 a.m. blaze was sparked by a Brunnquell Iron Works welder doing steel work on a roof gable, said Chesterfield School Superintendent Ellen McHenry. The company operates out of Dayton.
“The workers attempted to put it out with a fire extinguisher, and it wasn’t successful,” she said. “So they called 911 and we had several fire companies on the scene.”
Firefighters from Chesterfield, Bordentown Township, Hamilton, Mansfield, Springfield, Florence, Plumsted (New Eqypt), North Hanover and elsewhere responded as three alarms was struck.
Two hours later, smoke was still rising from the building and firefighters were still using saws to cut away a section of the roof. The injured firefighter was helicoptered to the hospital with a deep cut to his arm.
“No rooms were burned, just the roof,” McHenry said. Hill International Construction Management will assess damages along with Projects Management Co., the manager of the build.
By mid-afternoon, board members, inspectors and school officials were allowed in. The new $37 million, three-story, K-through-6 building at Saddle Way and Thorne Lane was to open in September and replace the existing school on Bordentown-Chesterfield Road.
According to the school district’s website, when completed, the building will be more than 115,000 square feet in size and house 54 classrooms, a science lab, gym, cafeteria and other facilities for 900 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
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