San Diego Explosion Injures 14

Cool, thanks for the photo. What were your impressions when you saw it?

Took them long enough. 

Five construction workers were critically injured and another nine people suffered moderate injuries.

Ten of the injured were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, adjacent to downtown.

Of those, three were treated for second- and third-degree burns; three were sent to the emergency room; and four others were treated in the urgent care department, a medical center spokesman said. Except for those being treated for burns, most of the patients were expected to be released Monday night or Tuesday.

Dr. Bruce Potenza, director of the UC San Diego Regional Burn Center, said the three burn patients were burned over 25% to 35% of their bodies from a "short, intense flash explosion of some sort." The burns were in "critical areas" such as the face and joints, he said. The three were put in medically-induced comas to compensate for the pain, Potenza said.

Four victims with moderate injuries were taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital. One firefighter was treated for a cut finger and returned to duty.

an initial investigation by the San Diego Fire Department determined the explosion was caused by a natural gas leak in a fifth-floor maintenance area that includes gas and electric utilities. The ignition point could have been a boiler or an electrical outlet, said department spokesman Maurice Luque.

Deputy Fire Chief Perry Peake said that although windows, drywall and metal railings were blown outward, the explosion did not appear to damage the concrete and steel that forms the hotel's support system. "We found no damage that would make the building unstable," he said.

As many as five floors of the building were damaged on the northeast corner, officials said. The hotel, with 1,190 rooms and 165,000 square feet of meeting space, is set to open this fall and has been touted as luxury addition to the downtown's hotel and convention industry.

The explosion was felt several blocks away by tourists, downtown residents, and employees of several businesses. The night game between the San Diego Padres and the St. Louis Cardinals was not rescheduled, officials said.

Within minutes of the explosion, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department responded with 85 personnel, 11 ambulances, nine engines and four trucks. Many of the firefighters had disaster-scene experience from the Northridge earthquake in 1994, Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, and in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.

via: latimes