A maintenance worker suffered burns in a flash fire at an east Erie industrial plant Tuesday afternoon.

The incident happened about 1:00 PM at Fralo Industries Inc. at 1651 East 12th Street.  Other workers were forced to evacuate the plant, but no one else got hurt.

Fralo is a metal fabricating company.  Co-workers and fire officials said the employee, Gary Simmons was servicing a piece of equipment.  "There's a piece of equipment in there that washes parts and cleans them prior to painting.  Apparently the employee was on top of the machine servicing it when a spark touched off a flash fire on top of the machine," said Deputy Erie Fire Chief Jeff Carroll.

The machine was a powder coat oven on the factory's paint line. The victim was rushed to UPMC Hamot Medical Center for treatment and transferred to the burn unit at UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.  Nursing officials there say Simmons is listed in critical condition.