A Ridgefield Park junior firefighter was critically injured in a Sunday afternoon fire, authorities confirmed.
“It’s significant,” one responder said. “No one knows if he’ll lose his leg.”
A pressurized cannister apparently popped and the shrapnel struck the 17-year-old volunteer — breaking several bones in his leg and both hands — as he helped set up a hose outside a Mount Vernon Street restaurant where a garbage fire broke out, responders said.
Village firefighters quickly knocked down the two-alarm blaze and had it under control at 3:15 p.m., barely 45 minutes after it began.
The 17-year-old junior firefighter was still in surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center hours later.
The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office was also notified.
