Coast-to-Coast Ka-Booms

Updates to both stories.  Scroll down.

A MASSIVE EXPLOSION LEVELED A 2-STORY industrial building in Los Angeles this morning.  The blast destroyed a welding security fence shop shortly after 6 am Pacific and left one person dead and another in critical condition.  One man was killed when the blast hurled him into the street and another man died after being electrocuted by a downed power line.

NBC News

The Los Angeles Fire Department USAR team has been brought in to search the large collapse for any people trapped in the debris.  It is believed that there might be at least one more worker in the rubble.  Two other people were literally hurled out of the wood-frame building by the blast and were found wedged underneath  automobiles in the parking lot.

The fire department responded with 100 FF’s and had the resulting fire extinguished in about a half-hour.  Investigators are saying that early indications point to a natural gas explosion.  
Update:  Gas leak caused by tampered natural gas line.  The Associated Press is reporting:

The gas meter at the building was shut off Thursday, and someone installed an illegal line to the meter that allowed natural gas from a street line to enter at excessively high pressure, said Denise King, a spokeswoman for Southern California Gas Co.

The gas line bypassed the meter’s shut-off valve and its regulator, which was designed to reduce pressure to safe levels, King said. She did not know why the meter had been shut off.  It is now suspected that natural gas or an industrial gas may have been leaking and collected overnight in the building then ignited when operations resumed in the morning.

Update #2:
The Los Angeles Times has posted a more detailed report on the illegal gas tap:

(Elizabeth Alvarado, a manager at JL Spray)  said she had spoken to Gas Co. employees when they shut off the service Thursday afternoon.  “They told me the bill wasn’t paid,” she said.

 Investigators at the scene Friday morning could immediately tell that the meter had been tampered with in a way that allowed for “energy theft,” Lord said. A maintenance valve was turned on so the gas could bypass the meter and regulator.

The appliances in the building were designed to handle about a third of a pound of pressure, Lord said, but after the tampering, the full 28 pounds of “street pressure” was released.  “And then they probably went inside and tried to light something,” he said.

The business, J.L. Spray, has four employees and makes metal security fences, doors, windows and gates, said Elizabeth Alvarado, a secretary for the business.  She was not at the site when the blast occurred but said the owner, Jaime Lara, arrived every morning to start a propane furnace that is used to heat-cure a paint-like powder coating that is used on the metal.  The plant is next door to a welding shop.

The Associated Press and KTLA-TV have filed this early video report:

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Updated, 5 pm.  Scroll down.  Also video added.

IN NORFOLK, MASSACHUSETTS, TWO THREE PEOPLE WERE seriously injured when a condominium building under construction was leveled by an explosion.  The blast occurred around 12:30 pm Eastern.

WBZ-TV

The two injured were airlifted to hospitals and there are reports from the scene of “several” other injuries.  At the time of this posting at least one person was still trapped beneath the rubble.  There is no more information yet while the FD’s are still working the incident.

Update, 5 pm:
Eight injuries have been reported after the FD has cleared the scene.  Two of the injured were firefighters, but not serious.  The type of injuries has not been reported.   The Attleboro Sun Chronicle is reporting this evening:

…. three construction workers were transported by medical helicopter to area hospitals- two to Brigham and Women’s Hospital and one to Massachusetts General Hospital.

One of those construction workers suffered burns and was trapped in the basement of the smoldering duplex at the Village at River’s Edge condominium complex for at least two hours before firefighters pulled him out of the rubble.

Construction workers were working the half of the duplex that was leveled during the explosion. A woman residing in the other half of the building, which is still standing, escaped without injury but declined to talk to reporters.

The explosion occurred at around 12:20 p.m. Each unit in complex, which is designed for older adults, has a propane tank, but it was not clear whether a tank was the source of the explosion.  State Fire Marshall Stephen Coan is on the scene, but declined to speculate on the cause of the explosion.

WCVB-TV has a 15-image photo gallery HERE.

WPRI-TV Providence has this video report:

At the time of this posting (2 pm Eastern) WFXT-TV was live-streaming from their helicopter over the scene HERE.  (live streaming is off.)