TROY, Mich. — Authorities are trying to determine what caused a hyperbaric oxygen chamber at a Troy medical facility to explode on Friday morning, killing a 5-year-old boy who was inside.
First responders were called at about 7:54 a.m. to a medical center at 165 Kirts Boulevard near Livernois Road and Interstate 75 about a report of an explosion and fire, Troy Police Lt. Ben Hancock and Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said at a news conference, where they were joined by Troy Police Chief Joshua Jones and Troy Fire Chief Pete Hullinger.
The medical center where the explosion happened is one of multiple facilities operated by The Oxford Center, company officials confirmed Friday.
Hancock said the authorities do not know for what the boy was being treated in the hyperbaric chamber, a pressurized medical device used to provide oxygen therapy to patients. Among the conditions for which the Food and Drug Administration has approved such chambers for use are burns, carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness and gas gangrene.
“It’s a horrible, tragic incident,” Hancock said. “It’s not something that we ever want to have to respond to.”
“I’ve been with the department for 10 years, and we’ve never responded to anything like this,” Young said.
Hancock said he’s been with the police department for about just as long. “I’m not aware of any incidents with these machines before,” he said.
Troy officials said they are not releasing the boy’s identity.
Firefighters and police arrived and found a hyperbaric chamber on fire, officials said. They also were told a Royal Oak boy was in the chamber at the time of the explosion, authorities said.
They quickly contained the fire, extracted the boy from the device and later pronounced him dead, officials said. It’s not clear how long the boy had been in the chamber before the explosion, officials said.
“Initially, it was a rescue so we went in for that, but we also had an active fire, so we had to deal with that,” Young said. “The chamber was open when we arrived, so we dealt with the fire first.”
He said they were able to bring the fire under control within minutes of arriving on the scene.
Hancock said the boy’s mother was standing near the chamber when the explosion happened and suffered injuries to her arms.
Young said the damage from the explosion and the fire was contained to the area nearest the chamber. He said damage is not visible on the building’s exterior.
He added that the facility’s staff was present when the incident happened but no other injuries were reported.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation, authorities said, and the facility has been temporarily closed. Young said it’s not clear when the investigation will be completed or when the center will reopen.
“We’re not sure what led up to it,” he said. “That’s what our investigation will show.”
Young also said it wasn’t clear Friday morning whether an autopsy would be conducted.
Young said the departments were making social workers and grief counselors available to the officers and firefighters who responded to the scene. He declined to comment on how first responders were doing in the aftermath.
The fire lieutenant said incidents of explosions in hyperbaric chambers are uncommon. 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 officials did not know what license, if any, or whether any are required, the center had to operate a hyperbaric chamber.
“That will come with the investigation,” Young said.
He added the city does inspect or license such devices and expected staff officials to join the investigation into the cause of the explosion and the boy’s death.
The lieutenant also said he was not aware of any previous incidents at the center to which the Troy Fire Department was called. He said he didn’t think there was cause for alarm among other patients who get treatment with the devices.
The Oxford Center was founded in 2008 in South Lyon, according to its website. It also has a location in Brighton and offers a range of therapies, including physical therapy; occupational therapy; applied behavioral analysis, a type of therapy for autism spectrum disorder; and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy — which the center uses to treat dozens of conditions including autism, gastrointestinal issues, cancer and more — enhances the body’s “ability to aid in its healing,” according to its website.
“At pressures greater than normal, 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 Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy significantly enhances the body’s ability to aid in its healing.”
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The company issued a statement, calling Friday “an exceptionally difficult day for all of us.”
“As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber,” the Oxford Center said the statement. “The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the child’s mother was injured.”
It also said: “The safety and well-being of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy.
“We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place.”
Both Michigan Medicine and Henry Ford Health have hyperbaric oxygen therapy programs but declined to comment on Friday.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a specialized treatment where patients breathe 100% oxygen in a pressurized space, according to Henry Ford Health’s website. The health system said it increases the atmospheric pressure in the chamber to 2.4 times greater than normal.
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 sensorineural hearing loss and complications of radiation therapy for cancer, according to Henry Ford Health’s website.
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(Detroit News staff writer Anne Snabes contributed to this story.)
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