Former Firefighter Who Lost Right Arm, Leg In Sylmar Explosion To Get New Bionic Hand

ENCINO (CBS) — A former Los Angeles firefighter who lost his right arm and right leg in an explosion in Sylmar last year will be one of the first people in California to receive the Michaelangelo Hand, the newest bionic hand available in the world.

Tim Larson, 42, and 42-year-old entertainment attorney Andrew Carter are the first Californians to receive the Michaelangelo Hand, a bionic limb with five articulating digits and multiple grip functions that will allow the men to flex the muscles in their residual limbs. The new appendage will allow them to master everyday tasks like opening a tube of toothpaste and preparing meals.

Larson was grievously injured when he and a business partner, 66-year-old William Stehl, were preparing equipment for a sales demonstration promoting an experimental fuel in August 2011. A cylinder holding gas exploded because it was being handled in a "non-instrinsically safe work area," Cal/OSHA determined.

Carter lost his left hand when he was just 14 years old to an electrical accident.

Representatives of the Hanger Clinic, which will fit Larson and Carter with their prostheses, say the Michaelangelo is the first hand that uses advanced software that increases the responsiveness and predictability of the hand, making it easier to operate.