GRAHAM, Texas --
A man and two women were critically injured Tuesday afternoon after an explosion at a business in Young County, NBC 5 reported.
The chemical flash fire burned the three employees at about 2 p.m. at the Texas Recreation Corporation, a company that make pool floats in Graham, near Jacksboro.
Firefighters said the workers were in the paint room when an apparent flash fire caught them totally off-guard.
"A flash fire is when there's enough of a flammable gas in the air that it ignites in just kind of like a puff, and then it goes back out," said Jerry David, Graham fire marshal.
Plant manager Norman Carpenter said he did not know what caused the fire.
"Safety is our No. 1 thing, and we're as curious as anybody else as to what has happened," he said.
A witness said the fire was contained to the inside of the building and there was no damage visible from the outside.
Several firefighters got dehydrated. David said three or four firefighters had to get fluids from the ambulance but "they were fine after that."
The three injured workers were taken by air ambulance to the burn unit at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. They remained in critical condition on Tuesday night.
Carpenter said the Texas Recreation facility will remain closed until it is clear what went wrong.
"It's hard on everybody here, because we're a small family," he said.
Federal safety inspectors are expected to be at the plant Wednesday morning, an investigation Carpenter said he welcomes.
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