Jan. 14--ST. LOUIS --A fire at a paint manufacturing plant Monday night burned a worker on his legs and left firefighters scrambling to find a shut-off valve to the acetone pipe that was fueling the fire.
An alarm sounded at the U.S. Paint Corporation complex at 831 South 21st Street shortly after 8 p.m. The fire, which started at the pipe, was contained to a small area on the first floor of one of the buildings, but was fueled by acetone running through the pipe, said St. Louis Fire Captain Gregg Favre.
One fire company kept the fire contained while another fire company went around the building for about 25 minutes trying to find the appropriate shut-off valve, he said.
The acetone was flammable but not explosive, he said, and the firefighters weren't exactly sure what the chemical makeup of the substance was.
The worker was in stable condition in the ambulance, Favre said, and they weren't sure Monday night what exactly caused the blaze.
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