An employee of Dover Elevator Co. of St. Louis was injured in a elevator shaft flash fire in the Scully Building on the Southeast Missouri State University campus Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities said Don Reynolds, age unknown, was injured when the welding torch he was using apparently ignited cleaning fluid fumes in the shaft.

Another Dover employee, Robert Koebel, transported Reynolds to Southeast Missouri Hospital, where he was treated and released.

The flash fire occurred about 2 p.m. as Dover employees were working to repair the elevator on the first floor of the university building.

"I was standing there and it went poof," recalled Koebel, who was about three feet away from Reynolds when the incident occurred. "It melted his shirt."

Capt. Zane Wissmann of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department said the flash fire lasted just an instant.

He said the welding torch apparently ignited cleaning fluid fumes that had settled in a casing that surrounded the hydraulic ram, which propels the elevator.

"I imagine it was about like looking down a rocket when it went off," said Wissmann.