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Smoker sets face on fire

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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

(Updated 1:45 pm)

By The Times-News of Burlington

BURLINGTON (MCT) — A 44-year-old man who uses oxygen was flown to Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill on Monday after he lit a cigarette and set his face on fire.

The man received burns in his nostrils, throat and face, but his condition wasn't immediately known. Fire officials did not release the man's name.

"He was on oxygen and smoking," E.M. Holt Fire Chief Mark Fuqua said. "When he went to light the cigarette, it blew up in his face."

Firefighters were called at 9 a.m. Monday to Auburn Springs Apartments on Crouse Lane, where the man was a resident. The man, who had the oxygen hooked into his nostrils at the time, lit the cigarette inside his room. Smoking is not allowed inside the two-story facility.

"There are several people on oxygen that smoke," Fuqua said. "I don't think they realize how dangerous it is. The thing he had in his nose was completely melted."

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Paul J

December 9, 2008 - 1:57 pm EST

Please inform the Chief that it did not blow up. Oxygen is not flammable and will not Blow Up.

histrion

December 9, 2008 - 2:14 pm EST

Although I don't see where he said the oxygen was, by itself, flammable -- "He was on oxygen and smoking" implies that he had (flammable) rubber hoses and a (flammable) cigarette in addition to a concentrated oxidant near his face -- perhaps he meant it in the sense of the common colloquialism, as in "the idiot did something stupid that he knew he shouldn't do, and it blew up in his face."

centris124

December 9, 2008 - 2:38 pm EST

Well, it's not flammable (which no one claims), but it is an accelerant...so I would guess it accelerated all those other flammable things around the fellow's face. Close enough, I say.

beachlover

December 9, 2008 - 3:07 pm EST

Oxygen is highly oxidizing (a general chemical term applying to any substance, like oxygen, that accepts electrons from another substance during reaction). Oxygen reacts vigorously with combustible materials, especially in its pure state, releasing heat in the reaction process. Many reactions require the presence of water or are accelerated by a catalyst....THEREFORE WHEN MIXED WITH A CIGARETTE IT WILL COMBUST!! HOW STUPID CAN SOME PEOPLE BE? THAT'S WHY IT PLAINLY STATES NO SMOKING ON OXYGEN TANKS.