RUMFORD – A NewPage employee was
taken to Rumford Hospital around 9:30 a.m. with second degree burns
from hot water and steam. He was treated and
released during the late afternoon.

The man, described as between age 45
and 55, apparently tried to shut off a valve to stem a leak when he
received burns to his thigh, legs and hands, Med-Care Ambulance Service Director Dean Milligan said.

Mill spokesman Tony Lyons said the accident was in the wood pulp stock area. Neither he nor Lyons would
release the man’s name.

Milligan said the injured employee
apparently sought in-house medical attention before he was taken to
the hospital. He said he had originally called out the Rumford
Fire Department but canceled the request when he learned that no
chemicals were involved in the accident.

Lyons said fewer than 20 employees
working in the pulp mill were evacuated to another section of the
mill. At midmorning, a crew was on site to repair the equipment.

By midafternoon, most of the evacuated
employees returned to their jobs, said Janet Hall, also a mill
spokesman. The accident is under investigation to determine the cause, she said.

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