The mass burning took place on the last day of a management development conference for 180 KFC executives and managers at the Horizons golf resort at Salamander Bay, Port Stephens, north of Newcastle. In all, 11 ambulances responded to the emergency at 1.40pm when the resort reported about 30 people suffering burns to their feet as a result of a fire-walking exercise over the ashes of burnt timber.

But an ambulance spokesman said of those injured, most of whom were aged 20 to 30, seven received serious burns which required treatment at Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital.

Thirteen others were taken to a clinic at Nelson Bay with lesser burns, while 10 others were treated at the scene by ambulance officers for minor blisters, an Ambulance Service spokesman said yesterday.

Both Tricon Restaurants Australia and WorkCover began immediate investigations late yesterday into how so many people came to be burnt during the fire-walking exercise undertaken by many companies throughout Australia as part of leadership development and management bonding schemes. Tricon Restaurant Australia chief legal counsel Angus Armstrong said last night that the company regarded the safety of its staff above everything and it was at a loss to explain how it occurred. Mr Armstrong said the accident happened on the last day of a two-day management development conference and that the fire-walking was one of the last exercises of the program that was conducted on a voluntary basis.

An independent company conducted the fire-walking exercise and KFC had used it twice before without incident, Mr Armstrong said. He said the seven taken to John Hunter Hospital, among them Mr Eaton, were initially feared to have serious burns, but their burns had been found not to be so severe.

"We have been told that they will be released overnight. We are very pleased to hear that they are not as severe," Mr Armstrong said. "We are also conducting a thorough investigation into the incident and we are working closely with WorkCover." Mr Armstrong said it was "totally unacceptable" that anyone should get hurt and Tricon Restaurants "will be reviewing the types of exercises" it conducts at future conferences.