Troy Oxford Center deadly fire preliminary hearing enters day two
Troy Oxford Center employees charged in death of 5-year-old
Thomas Cooper was inside a hyperbaric chamber receiving treatment when the fire ignited, ultimately killing him. On Tuesday, international hyperbaric safety expert Francois Burman testified that where the key points he addressed was what he believes caused the fire inside the hyperbaric chamber where the 5-year-old was.
TROY, Mich. (FOX 2) - It was day two of a preliminary hearing in the case of a deadly fire at the Oxford Center that killed a 5-year-old boy.
Big picture view:
Thomas Cooper was inside a hyperbaric chamber receiving treatment when the fire ignited, ultimately killing him.
On Tuesday, international hyperbaric safety expert Francois Burman testified addressing what he believes caused the fire inside the hyperbaric chamber where the 5-year-old was.
After reviewing security video, he stated that a static spark was the likely cause, which occurred when Thomas’s knee brushed against the mattress he was lying on. Burman added that Thomas was not wearing a grounding strap, which, as learned from testimony yesterday, is a basic safety device designed to prevent static buildup and ultimately a fire. Burman described this as a serious failure while explaining what he observed while Thomas was inside the chamber.
"The child was moving towards the end," said Burman. "The child moved quite a lot, quite violently, but certainly with lots of energy, and you could see very clearly when he moved the sheet off the actual mattress. We know that the mattress is a conductive item. It’s built conductive for a particular purpose, and then we saw him turn over, and his knee appeared to touch the mattress, and that’s when the initial spark occurred."
Burman went on to say that children generate more static and grounding straps should have been used, calling it too risky not to.
Dig deeper:
FOX 2 heard similar concerns yesterday from a former employee who said her concerns were ignored regarding strangulation risks.
The defense argued that the straps aren't 100% preventive.
The preliminary hearing will not resume until December.