NJ Junior Firefighter Suffers Critical Injuries in Blast

A junior firefighter in northern New Jersey remains in critical but stable condition after being injured by a pressurized cannister explosion during a fire.

The Daily Voice is reporting that the 17-year-old high school student, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was assisting with setting up an attack line when the cannister exploded inside a makeshift wooden garbage bin behind a restaurant in Ridgefield Park.

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Ridgefield Park Fire Chief John Antola Jr. said the explosion sent "shrapnel and debris" flying in the direction of the teen, who was “hit in multiple areas by the shrapnel and sustained severe trauma across the body, resulting in major bleeding."

“A tourniquet was applied almost immediately by the attending firefighter and police officer to one of his legs above one area of major trauma,” the chief said. “The immediate application of the tourniquet is credited by medical professionals as potentially saving his life."

The young firefighter was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center where several surgeries were performed.

A fire lieutenant also sustained an ear injury in the explosion, according to the Daily Voice