UNION SPRINGS (AP) -- A volunteer firefighter remains in serious condition after being badly burned when fuel exploded in a World War II-era amphibious rescue vehicle used by a central New York fire company.
State police say 35-year-old Steven Kalet was moving a vehicle known as a DUKW (duck) from the Union Springs fire station Monday afternoon when a fuel leak caused an explosion.
Kalet was taken by helicopter to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, where a nursing supervisor says he's in serious condition Tuesday morning.
The DUKW that exploded is one of two 1940s amphibious vehicles used by local firefighters to rescue swimmers and boaters on Cayuga Lake. Kalet, an assistant chief, was preparing to perform maintenance on the vehicle when the accident occurred.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
