4 Burned in Plant Explosion : Sawdust Ignites; Firm Cited Earlier for Fire Violations

Four workers were critically burned Wednesday after wood dust exploded at a Santa Ana waterbed factory that had been cited during a recent inspection for fire code violations, authorities said.

Witnesses said the injured workers, their faces and arms “red and peeling,” fled the building’s woodshop area crying for water and sprayed each other with garden hoses before paramedics arrived. One office worker mistook the explosion for “an earthquake because the building was shaking.”

A fifth worker at the factory, Pacific Trend Co., was treated for less severe injuries that apparently did not include burns and later was released from the UCI Medical Center emergency room in Orange, authorities said.

Investigation Under Way

The state Occupational Safety and Health Agency is investigating the fire, a routine procedure in industrial accidents.

The company, meanwhile, was ordered to cease operations until “they clean the place up,” Bill Reedy, deputy chief of the Santa Ana Fire Department said. He would not discuss what “notice of hazards” the company had been cited for, pointing out that because fire code violations are misdemeanors they are not a matter of public record.

Typically, such citations are issued with a 14-day grace period to correct the hazard, Reedy said, but he did not know the date that Pacific Trend was cited.

The company does have “problems” with its dust-collection system, he said.

The injured workers--Alfonso Martinez, 20, Tony Martinez, 30, Flavio Alvarez, 27, and Abel Aranda, 25--were admitted to UCI Medical Center’s intensive care burn unit, where they were listed in critical condition late Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. She added that the fifth worker, Herberto Garcia, was treated in the emergency room and released Wednesday afternoon.

Reedy said initial reports indicated two of the men had been burned over 80% of their bodies and the other two had been burned over 40% of their bodies.

There was little or no structural damage to the factory at 2111 S. Anne St., where about 60 people were working when sawdust in a “crude dust-collection system” apparently exploded, Reedy said. He added that it had not been determined how the dust particles may have been ignited.

Were Emptying Drum

The injured men were in the process of emptying a 55-gallon container into which sawdust is sucked when the explosion occurred, Reedy said.

The subsequent fire was quickly extinguished by the factory’s internal sprinkler system, and investigators said only smoldering sawdust remained when firefighters arrived at about 2 p.m.

Twenty firefighters at the scene spent most of their time treating the burn victims, Reedy said.

Elena Garcia, a personnel assistant at Pacific Trend, said she was sitting at her front office desk when the building was rocked by the explosion.

At least four men ran past her desk, she said, yelling and crying “water” before they sprayed themselves with a hose outside the building.

“Their arms and faces were red and peeling,” Garcia recalled.

Santa Ana Fire Department paramedics rinsed the burn victims with sterile water and wrapped them in sterile sheets to prevent infection.

Divided in Two Parts

Fire Capt. Tim Graber said the factory--which was estimated to be 50,000 square feet--is divided into two portions: a woodshop where bed frames are cut and assembled, and another area where the frames are varnished. The explosion occurred in a 10-by-10-foot area of the woodshop, Graber said.

The dust-collection system traditionally consists of various ducts through which such particles as sawdust are blown from areas inside the plant into fireproof hoppers outside.

Pacific Trend’s dust vacuum appeared to be “homemade,” Reedy said.

“It was sort of crude, which we don’t care (about) . . . . Our position on dust collection is that it can be 20 people in there sweeping, as long as it does the job,” he said.

Inspectors from the state occupational safety agency, and city fire and building inspectors will examine the structure thoroughly before the company is allowed to renew operation, Reedy said.