Heat from Canton Corning plant’s exhaust system hospitalizes three employees

pBY SUSAN MENDE/ppDEKALB — Extreme heat from an exhaust system that stopped working during a power outage at the Corning Inc. plant resulted in three employees having to be hospitalized for minor injuries./ppInitial reports said a fire at the plant caused the injuries, but Corning Spokesman Joseph Dunning said that wasn’t the case./pp“There was no fire at the facility. The facility sustained a power outage which stopped the exhaust systems at the glass melting furnaces,” he said. “As a result, higher than normal heat radiated from the furnaces.”/ppMr. Dunning said two of the injured employees were treated and released from local hospitals on Sunday. A third was hospitalized overnight and discharged Monday./pp“The whole incident is under investigation by Corning, National Grid and First Responders,” he said./ppRensselaer Falls Fire Chief Dallas Denny said the incident took place about 6:30 a.m. when some of Corning’s employees went to shut down the furnace after the power outage./ppHe said Corning has its own fire brigade. Firefighters from Richville and DeKalb were on standby as well as the Ogdensburg hazmat team and St. Lawrence County fire coordinators./ppThe injured were taken to Canton-Potsdam Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg. The injuries were said to be burns./p