Boy, 5, dies in Troy Hyperbaric Chamber Explosion

On By Littum

Troy -The authorities are trying to decide what caused a hyperbarian oxygen chamber on a Troy-medical facility to explode Friday morning, killing a 5-year-old boy who was inside.

The first respondents were called around 1 p.m. 07.54 to a medical center of 165 Karts Boulevard near Liverernois Road and Interstate 75 on a report on an explosion and fire, said Troy police Ben Hancock and Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young in a news conference where they stayed with Troy -Police Chief Joshua Jones and Troy Fire Chief Pete Hole.

The medical center, where the explosion happened, is one of several facilities operated by the Oxford Center, confirmed the company’s officials on Friday.

Hancock said the authorities do not know what the boy was treated in the hyperbarian chamber, a medical device used to provide oxygen treatment for patients. Among the conditions that the Food and Medicines Administration has approved such chambers for use are burns, carbon monoxide poisoning, decompressation disease and the gas fire.

“It’s a terrible, tragic incident,” Hancock said. “It’s not something we ever want to answer.”

“I’ve been with the department for 10 years and we’ve never responded to anything like it,” Young said.

Hancock said he has been with the police department for about as long. “I’m not aware of any events with these machines before,” he said.

Troy -officials said they are not releasing the boy’s identity.

What officials found

Firefighters and police arrived and found a hyperbarian chamber on fire, officials said. They were also told that a Royal Oak Boy was in the chamber at the time of the explosion, the authorities said.

They quickly contained the fire, extracted the boy from the unit and later pronounced him death, officials said. It is not clear how long the boy had been in the chamber before the explosion, officials said.

“Originally it was a rescue, so we advocated for it, but we also had an active fire, so we had to tackle it,” Young said. “The chamber was open when we arrived, so we treated the fire first.”

He said they were able to bring the fire under control within minutes of arriving at the stage.

Hancock said the boy’s mother was standing near the chamber when the explosion happened and suffered damage to her arms.

Young said the damage from the explosion and the fire was contained in the area closest to the chamber. He said damage is not visible to the exterior of the building.

He added that the staff of the plant was present when the incident happened, but no other injuries were reported.

The reason for the explosion is under investigation, the authorities said, and the plant is temporarily closed. Young said it is not clear when the investigation will be completed or when the center will open again.

“We’re not sure what led up to it,” he said. “That’s what our study will show.”

Young also said it was not clear Friday morning if an autopsy would be performed.

Young said the departments made social workers and grief advisers available to officers and firefighters who responded to stage. He refused to comment on how the first respondents were in the wake of.

The fire lieutenant said that incidents with explosions in hyperbar chambers are unusual. The chambers contain 100% oxygen, which is up to three times more than air in a normal room, according to authorities. As a result, the environment inside the chambers is extremely combustible, they said.

He said that officials did not know what license if anyone, or whether anyone is required, the center had to operate a hyperbarian chamber.

“It comes with the investigation,” Young said.

He added that the city inspects or licenses such units and expected staff officials to participate in the investigation of the cause of the explosion and the boy’s death.

The lieutenant also said he was not aware of any previous events in the center that Troy Fire Department was called. He said he did not think there was reason for alarm among other patients receiving treatment with the devices.

‘Unusually difficult’

The Oxford Center was founded in 2008 in South Lyon, according to his site. It also has a placement in Brighton and offers a number of therapies, including physiotherapy; Occupational Therapy; Used behavioral analysis, a type of therapy for autism spectrum disorder; and hyperbar oxygen therapy.

Hyperable oxygen therapy – the center uses to treat dozens of conditions, including autism, gastrointestinal problems, cancer and more – improves the body’s “ability to help with its healing” according to its website.

“At pressure greater than usual, the body can incorporate more oxygen into blood cells, blood plasma, cerebral spinal fluid and other bodily fluids,” it states. “The increased oxygen absorption experienced during hyperbar oxygen therapy improves the body’s ability to help with its healing significantly.”

The company issued a statement and called Friday “an unusually difficult day for all of us.”

“As law enforcement authorities have shared at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside a hyperbar oxygen chamber,” the Oxford Center said the statement. “The child who was treated in the fact that the chamber did not survive and the child’s mother was injured.”

It also said: “The security and well -being of the children we earn is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of giving this type of therapy.

“We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all the investigations that will now take place.”

The Oxford Center has been in the limelight before. In December, Kimberly Code, a former employee of the center’s Brighton location, was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison to emulate a health worker.

Authorities said the code presented herself as a board-certified behavioral analyst while working as service director from 2018-21 in the center serving autistic children, even though she was not licensed by the state and did not have the required educational background.

The Oxford Center was not alone in offering hyperbar oxygen treatment programs.

Both Michigan Medicine and Henry Ford Health also have programs, but refused to comment on Friday.

Hyperbar oxygen therapy is a specialized treatment in which patients inhale 100% oxygen in pressure on pressure, according to Henry Ford Health’s web site. The health system said it increases atmospheric pressure in the chamber to 2.4 times greater than usual.

It can be used to treat non-healing wounds, including diabetic ulcers, and can improve many kinds of infections, such as gangrene and abscesses. The therapy can also help treat idiopathic sudden sensory hearing loss and complications of radiotherapy for cancer, according to Henry Ford Health’s website.

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Detroit News -Personal writer Anne Snabes contributed