Student Burned at High School Improving
A 17-year-old boy badly burned in a high school physics experiment is recovering so rapidly that he may be able to leave the hospital by New Year’s Day, doctors said this week.
Christopher James appeared in good spirits at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Medical Center, inviting photographers to take his picture and waving to reporters from his hospital bed.
Despite Christopher’s scars, Dr. A. Richard Grossman, medical director of the burn center, said Christopher was being upgraded from serious to fair condition and may be able to return to school by February.
Christopher was one of two Hart High School students burned in a physics experiment that involved firing tennis balls from improvised cannons using methanol--wood alcohol. One of the cannons exploded, enveloping several students in a cloud of burning alcohol.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
