An employee at a Chula Vista cabinet shop suffered severe burns in a fire that sparked while he was working in a booth used to spray wood finish Monday, a fire official said.
The worker’s equipment caught fire as he was spraying furniture in the shed-like booth at Lovell Cabinets and Builders on Glover Avenue, west of Highland Avenue, Chula Vista fire Deputy Chief Harry Muns said.
The man, who tried to put out the fire, was burned on his upper body and neck. He was immediately treated by medics, then taken to a hospital.
Firefighters found the booth, an annex about the size of a single-car garage, fully involved in flames when they arrived about 4:10 p.m., Muns said.
The fire was contained to the booth and put out in about 15 minutes.
Muns said furniture shops are required to undergo fire inspections and have permits for the spraying booths because the wood finishing process is “very flammable.”
He did not know if the cabinet shop has permits or whether it was inspected.
Investigators were working to determine how the fire started and how much damage it caused.
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