FINANCIAL DISTRICT — A construction worker was burned Friday morning after a chainsaw burst into flames, setting him on fire, officials and witnesses said.
The man was working on a water main pipe replacement project on Broadway and Fulton Street at roughly 9:20 a.m. when he tried to start up the chainsaw, which quickly "exploded in flames," a fellow construction worker, Sidney Weston, said.
"All of a sudden, I heard screaming and saw that his pants were on fire," Weston said. "He was just on the ground screaming and screaming and we were trying to put the fire on his legs out."
Fire Department officials said the worker, who suffered burns, was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital in stable but serious condition.
MFM Construction Corp., the company performing the water main work, declined to comment.
The Department of Transportation and the Department of Design and Construction did not immediately return request for comment.
