WORKERS RECOVERING AFTER BEING BURNED.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

Three men were improving Tuesday after being burned a day earlier when a fire broke out as they were buffing a floor with acetone, officials said.

Two of the men were upgraded from critical to serious condition Tuesday, a 32-year-old man with second- and third-degree burns to his face, forearms and hands; and a 25-year-old with second- and third-degree burns to his face, hands and knees, hospital officials said.

Both men were improving, said Lori Lundberg, a spokeswoman at the Regional Burn Center at Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

The third victim, a 40-year-old man, was treated for first- and second-degree burns to his left hand and released Monday night from the West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, said Kari Jo Bloomer, a hospital spokeswoman.

The three men, who ordinarily work in the company's metal shop, were cleaning around some rearranged machinery at JMR Electronics in the 20400 block of Plummer Street in Chatsworth at 9:20 p.m. Monday, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

They had used acetone to remove some tar spots, said Nick Kosma, a spokesman for the company, which manufactures metal enclosures for computer hard drives.

When they turned on the buffing machine, the vapor from the acetone sparked a flash fire, Kosma said.

``There's millions of accidents. It was a freak accident,'' Kosma said, adding that he held a meeting Tuesday to inform his employees about the mishap and educate them on safety measures.

Humphrey called the incident avoidable.

``It was a volatile mix indeed,'' Humphrey said. ``This points to the importance of always following instructions (on machinery).''