A 15 year old teenager is in the hospital after being severely burned at school this week. The school was Pierce High School in Arbuckle California.

Pierce High School as an Agricultural Mechanics class where they train students on safety, mig and arc welding.

It was pajama day at the school, and according to the video below, the student was wearing flannel. Unfortunately, flannel and welding are not a good match, as anyone teaching safety and/or welding should know. Flannel can go up in flames rapidly when a spark touches it.

I can’t imagine the pain this poor student must be in right now. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family tonight.

Of course, this was an accident, and I’m sure the teacher feels horrible, but the school system is probably looking at a very large settlement…

Lawsuit imminent?

A lawsuit is almost definitely going to happen. The amount of injury, pain and suffering involved here- no government agency or insurance company is going to willingly dish out… The student received burns on over 70% of his body, and he will be seeking a lifetime of compensation. This is likely going to cost millions and millions of dollars, maybe even tens of millions of dollars, which still isn’t going to be “enough”.

From what I hear, injury claims against California government entities are very complex with tricky procedures that must be followed correctly the first time.

One of the most comprehensive burn injury resources in Northern California I have seen by an attorney is here: Burn Injuries  (https://www.autoaccident.com/burn-injuries.html).

That is quite possibly the best burn resource on the Internet.

Additional Information

After the welding accident and burn injury, the student was transported, by helicopter, to UC Davis Medical Center, and then later transferred to Shriners Hospital for Children. This hospital has a special burn care unit, and is distinguished by the American Burn Association (ABA) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) as a verified pediatric burn center.

CBSLocal in Sacramento has more information here.