Explosion at Long Beach house injures one
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Authorities are investigating what caused an explosion that destroyed an ADU on a residential property in Long Beach Monday.
Firefighters were sent to the 2800 block of Gale Avenue around 11 a.m., according to the Long Beach police and fire departments.
The blast destroyed a back house on the property and injured at least one person. Fire officials said a man in his late 30s was found in the wreckage of the destroyed back house and taken to a trauma center with burn injuries.
According to a GoFundMe page, the man was identified by his wife as Manny Fabrigas.
His wife Sheila wrote that her husband had taken Monday off from work to recover from a father-daughter cycling marathon he had taken part in the day before.
"What should have been a quiet day of recovery turned into a nightmare when a sudden explosion shook our home. We are incredibly thankful that some of our neighbors were home and heard the explosion. Without hesitation, they rushed in and bravely pulled my husband from the flames before the fire grew uncontrollable," she wrote in the GoFundMe.
He suffered severe second and third degree burns across his body and is currently in the ICU.
According to the Long Beach Fire Department, the ADU was a "permitted" structure in the rear of the main house.
The main house was "yellow-tagged," meaning it can only be entered for residents to retrieve items from inside. Fire officials said two adults and one minor live in the main home, and the Red Cross was called to assist them while they are displaced from their home, in addition to assisting the family that lived in the destroyed ADU.
A neighboring home also sustained some minor damage, according to LBPD.
The cause of the blast remains under investigation.
Video shared with FOX 11 shows the moments leading up to the explosion. Only a few seconds of the explosion was captured on surveillance video, since residents in the area lost power immediately after.
Crews put out several small fires on the property. Around 1,900 utility customers were left without power in the area following the explosion. As of early Monday afternoon, most of the power had been restored.