ORANGE, Texas (From the Beaumont Enterprise) - A man delivering sulfuric acid at the International Paper mill in Orange is in stable condition after suffering burns on 40 percent of his body.

Orange Fire Captain Payton Smith said the burn patient, who authorities only identified as a man believed to be in his late 20s, was sent to the University of Texas Medical Branch burn center in Galveston Tuesday afternoon.

Smith said the man was conscious, alert and able to speak with emergency responders.

The man did not inhale the acid, or suffer injury to his eyes, according to Smith.
"He talked to us fine," Smith said. "He wasn't in that much pain. He handled it pretty good. (The sulfuric acid) did get on the bottom part of his chin, his neck, chest and arms, legs and feet - pretty much everywhere. Luckily, it didn't go up another four inches, or it would've hit his eyes."

Orange firefighters were dispatched to the scene about 1:45 p.m. When they arrived, the patient had already been decontaminated at a nurse's office, Smith said.

The man did not work for the paper mill, but drove the truck with sulfuric acid and was in the process of unloading the truck. Smith said there appears to have been a leak as the man was undoing a hose, which exposed him to the sulfuric acid.