Mexican Firefighter Treated at Burn Center

A badly burned Mexican firefighter will undergo surgery Tuesday at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital, a hospital spokesman said Sunday.

During the procedure, doctors will remove dead skin from Mario Cota, a 24- year-old firefighter from Mexicali who arrived at the burn center on Friday after suffering second- and third-degree burns to 45% of his body during a propane gas explosion in Mexicali last week, hospital spokesman Larry Weinberg said. After removing the dead skin, which can be a source of infection, doctors will probably cover Cota’s burn wounds with cadaver skin.

Southern California firefighters raised money to bring Cota to the United States to be treated at the famed Grossman Burn Center. Cota suffered burns to his face, hands, arms, buttocks and back, but Weinberg said that Cota is expected to have a good outcome due to his age and physical condition.

“With a healthy 24-year-old male the survival rate is in excess of 80%,” Weinberg said. “The question here is how much scar tissue will there be and how much function will he have in his fingers and limbs?”

Cota is expected to stay at the hospital for about a month.