A crane operator who was rescued by a military chopper from a massive fire in Kingston, Ont., suffered more serious injuries than initially reported, according to his employer.

Aram Malek of Canadian Professional Crane Inc. said the 68-year-old worker was “severely burned” in the fire, which broke out at a downtown building under construction.

The veteran crane operator, Adam Jastrzebski, suffered burns to his hands, legs and back. He told The Kingston-Whig Standard from his hospital bed that he will no longer work on construction cranes.

"He's in pain," Malek told reporters Wednesday.

“Everything burned … There was nowhere to run. The only way to run was away from the fire.”

Meanwhile, fire officials continue to monitor the crane, as engineers warn that towering structure could be on the verge of collapsing.

Talking to reporters at the scene of the fire Wednesday morning, Kingston Fire Chief Rheaume Chaput said the area surrounding the crane is cordoned off in the event that it does fall.

“We’re trying to get engineers to determine just how badly damaged it is, and what’s the likelihood of that occurring,” he told reporters a day after fire tore through a student housing complex that was under construction.

Chaput said steel is affected by heat at 600C, and at the height of Tuesday’s blaze, he believes temperatures reached an estimated 1,000C.

“If it’s that hot, it starts to change the makeup of the steel,” he said. “We don’t know how brittle or how safe (the crane) is.”

Chaput said if engineers are able to disassemble the crane, he hopes it’s down by Thursday.

The heat was so extreme during Tuesday’s fire that Chaput said nearby vehicles and buildings also caught fire, noting that the fire continues to smoulder at apartment building.

"You have areas of the building that have collapsed upon themselves and in between them, there's fire and we're not able to get at it with the water," Chaput explained. "It may smoulder for another day."

Meanwhile, an evacuation order for the homes surrounding the five-storey building remains in place.

Kingston Mayor Mark Gerretsen said his biggest concern is accommodating those who have been evacuated from their homes.

"I am extremely grateful that nobody was seriously injured in this," he said, noting that he breathed a "huge sigh of relief" upon learning that the operator trapped on the crane was rescued.

Gerretsen said it will likely take a few days to completely remove the crane from the construction site, meaning a number of Kingston residents will remain under an evacuation order.

“If that crane were to fall over, it could end up on a building and no one knows exactly which direction it would fall,” he said.

About 150 area residents were displaced Tuesday, after emergency workers shut off electricity and gas in the area.

Utility crews are now tasked with visiting each home in the area to turn certain appliances back on, such as hot water tanks and furnaces.

“It’s a slow process, but people started to move back throughout the night,” Gerretsen said.

He said the power in the area immediately surrounding the building is expected to be out for a few days.

Gerretsen said residents have raised concerns about the apartment building in the past. The mainly wooden structure is nicknamed the “tinder box.”

However, the mayor said the building is regulated by the province.

“A proper building permit was taken out, the design did adhere to the Ontario Building Code,” Gerrertsen said. “Other than that, it’s really out of the municipality’s jurisdiction.”

Chaput said while the building was constructed to building code standards, “ideally there are better construction methods out there.”

Dramatic rescue for crane operator

As the fire raged in the residential neighbourhood on Tuesday afternoon, eyes were glued on a crane operator who became trapped high over the flames.

As the fire raged, he made his way to the far edge of the crane, where a military chopper eventually picked him up.

“He was actually really calm,” Sgt. Cory Cisyk, a search and rescue technician who was lowered to the edge of the crane and managed to secure the man and lift him to safety.

Flight engineer Cpl. Iain Cleaton said the crew on the rescue mission didn’t focus on the fire when they arrived to the scene.

“In those situations, the person who we are rescuing becomes our top priority,” he said. “Making sure we did it as quickly as possible.”

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

With files from Christina Commisso and The Canadian Press