MANCHESTER, N.H. --
The Mall of New Hampshire was evacuated Friday because of an explosion and small fire in the electrical room.
Officials said one person was transported to a hospital.
"I'm still recovering," said witness Mike Burglund. "It sounded like the roof was caving in. It was pretty bad."
Burglund, who works in the mall, said he was taking out the trash when he saw a man running out of the electrical room. Burglund said part of the man's body, including the back of his head, was on fire, and he was patting himself to try to put it out.
"He had a suit on, which he took off and was kind of stomping out, but the flames in the room were the worst part," he said. "I literally saw them come flying out of the room after him."
Officials said the man suffered second- and third-degree burns but was expected to survive.
"We had a worker from Interstate Electric that was taking some measurements in the electrical panel, and he incurred some sort of flash and received burns to the face, hands and maybe chest," District Chief Robert Corbeil said.
The electrical room fire was quickly extinguished.
The large anchor stores in the mall were able to open later because they are on a separate generator.
The mall says the some stores close to the electrical room sustained smoke damage and those areas will be closed off on Saturday.
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