Brazilian Firefighter Injured in Candle Factory Blaze

A firefighter suffered burns on his abdomen and thighs helping to extinguish a candle factory fire Monday night in southeast Brazil.

At about 8 p.m. fire broke out at a candle factory in Capivari with an estimated 15 tons of paraffin on site, local media reports. Firefighters responded from the neighboring Sao Paulo community of Piracicaba with five vehicles.

A mutual aid response bringing firefighters from other nearby cities was later requested. Water and foam were used to battle the blaze.

The newspaper Gazeta de Piracicaba reports that one Piracicaba firefighters suffered second and third degree burns in an incident involving a container of paraffin. He was admitted to a Piracicaba hospital at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, then later transferred to a burn unit in Santa Casa de Limeira.

“The information obtained is that he was conscious, oriented and his health was stable,” the newspaper reports.

Video posted to social media shows the roof of the factory collapsing during the blaze. Extinguishment came shortly before 5 a.m.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.