By Tuan Nguyen and Nicole Bode
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — A man was hospitalized with second-degree burns on his arms after the power washing truck he was working with to clean a private dog park on Houston Street caught fire, workers and the FDNY said.
Keith Montana, 47, a worker with the Doe Fund, Inc., was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center with severe burns on his arms and his after the fire around 9:30 a.m., his partner and a fire department spokesman said.
"We're cleaning the dog park right here and my partner was pouring gas into the machine. The machine was off but the gas caught the flame," said Montana's partner, Gregory Holder, 45.
Holder said he suspected the diesel tank was a little too hot when they added in more gas, sparking a flame.
Holder said he and his partner tried to put out the fire with the hose inside the car, but Montana was burned on his arm and eyebrow during the attempt.
"Nothing serious but he suffered some pain. He will be all right," Holder said.
Montana and his partner were assigned to clean out the private Mercer-Houston Dog Run and were pouring diesel fuel into the generator in the back of their pickup truck when it caught fire, Holder said.
Montana was burned when the pair tried to extinguish the fire themselves, before calling the FDNY.
The Mercer-Houston Dog Run on Houston and Mercer streets, located directly across from the Angelica theater, costs $50 to be a member, according to its website. Dog run owners could not immediately be reached.
The truck leaked diesel fuel onto the ground at the intersection and fire crews were on scene cleaning it up, fire officials said.
