Abstract: At 3:35 a.m. on July 16, 2007, Employee #1, a furnace operator, suffered face and hand burns from a flash fire that erupted from the Number 2 aluminum furnace at TST, Inc. in Fontana, California. The employer receives scrap aluminum and melts it in furnaces to produce a variety of aluminum ingots, billets and other stock pieces for various end users. Employee #1 had been charging Furnace Number 2 with aluminum scrap since his shift started at 11:00 p.m. on July 15, 2007, using a John Deere front-end loading tractor according to the instructions of his supervisor. At 3:35 a.m. on July 16, 2007, undetermined contaminants in Furnace Number 2 caused a flash fire that engulfed the operator and his tractor. Employee #1 was required to wear heat-resistant protective clothing, but he still received serious burns because he had not been wearing the required protective gloves at the time of the flash fire from the furnace. Employee #1 was transported to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center where he was admitted for three days of inpatient medical treatment including skin grafts for his right hand.