Burned boys stable as water temp fixed

LYNN – The building manager for an apartment where two young boys suffered severe burns Wednesday said the temperature of the water that scalded the victims has now been set within legal limits.The 2-year-old and 3-year-old victims are in stable condition and critical but stable condition, respectively, at Shriners Hospital for Children-Boston, according to a hospital spokesperson.Meanwhile, officials cited different codes to which the water temperature must comply. This prompted a spokesman for the affordable-housing organization that owns the apartment to say he expects the organization will check its other properties to ensure they meet appropriate guidelines.”I believe what they will do is look at each individual unit and ensure that each unit is in compliance with whatever code it needs to be in compliance with,” Paul Halloran, a spokesperson for Affordable Housing Associates of Lynn, said Thursday evening.A 2-year-old boy and his 3-year-old brother were flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital early Wednesday morning after being scalded in the bathtub of an apartment at 263 Essex St.Lynn District Fire Chief Stephen Archer told The Daily Item on Wednesday that the younger child had burns over 50 percent of his body and the 3 year old had burns on 80 percent of his body, including the groin and upper torso.Lynn Plumbing Inspector Paul Flores told The Daily Item that the water temperature at the time of the two boys’ scalding was 131 degrees Fahrenheit – 19 degrees above the state plumbing code limit for a combination shower/bathtub, such as in the apartment – and Flores said he would notify the building manager. (Flores said a soaking tub could have water up to 130 degrees, but any fixture with a shower required a valve that limited the water temperature to 112 degrees.)In a letter to Flores dated Thursday and obtained by The Daily Item, the president of Affordable Housing Associates of Lynn asserts that, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, all showers at 263-265 Essex St. have been set at 112 degrees. The legal minimum is 110 degrees.The letter from James Toomey, however, cites the temperature complies with the state sanitary code, which says that hot water should be no higher than 130 degrees.Halloran said the affordable-housing organization was operating under the premise that the maximum temperature allowed in the unit was 130 degrees.Halloran also noted that the city approved the apartment to be rented in a certificate dated April 22 and signed by an S. Kolodziej. The certificate also refers to the state sanitary code not the state plumbing code.Halloran said he couldn’t answer whether other units owned by the affordable-housing group adhered to the limits in the sanitary code or the plumbing code. But he expected the matter would be investigated.Meanwhile, a Boston radio station reported that a babysitter may be changing his story about what happened before the scaldings.Charles Collins, a 263 Essex St. resident, told The Daily Item on Wednesday that the boys live with their father in one of the building’s apartments across the hall from the apartment where Collins and his son, also named Charles, live. Collins said his son, 21, was getting the boys “ready for day care” and crossed the hallway to his apartment to use the bathroom. Collins said when his son returned to the boys’ apartment, the older child had turned on the hot water.WBZ Thursday morning, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the 21-year-old man who was caring for the boys may have fallen asleep while watching the boys and was awakened by their screams from scalding water from a bathtub.A Lynn police spokesperson could not be reached Thursday to confirm the account.