Restaurant Tank Blast Hurts 21 in S.F.’s Chinatown

A leaky propane tank on a dim sum cart exploded in a crowded Chinatown restaurant Wednesday, injuring at least 21 employees and customers and blowing out the front windows of the three-story building.

Several other people, including pedestrians on crowded Stockton Street, were cut by flying glass and debris and treated at the scene without being taken to hospitals. Two firefighters were also injured.

The propane, used to fuel burners that keep food warm on the carts, may have been ignited by a flame in a second-floor kitchen of the Canton Tea House or by a flame from another dim sum cart, said Capt. Richard Crispen of the San Francisco Fire Department.

The blast, centered in a waiters’ station, set off a three-alarm fire in the midst of the city’s most densely populated area, snarling traffic. The restaurant passed a fire inspection last month with only one minor violation that had been corrected, Crispen said. The restaurant had permits to use the propane tanks.

Even as firefighters mopped up, trays of dim sum remained on display in what had been the front window. Many of the restaurant’s tables were thrown about in the blast and firefighting effort.

“It looks like a war zone,” Fire Lt. Richard Allen said upon emerging from the restaurant. He said the injured people included waitresses, kitchen workers and customers.

“If they weren’t burned, they were hit by flying glass,” Allen said.

Customers said nearly all the tables in the spacious two-story restaurant were filled at the time of the blast. Ren Yu, 26, one of the patrons, said diners continued to eat even as what apparently was a fire alarm sounded in the kitchen.

“I didn’t even think about it,” Yu said of the bell. But when he saw a ball of flames coming from the kitchen, he ran to safety.

Tony Auyeng said he was having breakfast with a cousin on the second floor of the restaurant when he heard a loud hissing from a propane bottle and smelled gas.

He said waitresses told customers to leave, prompting “a lot of scared people” to bolt for the stairs. There was a jam at the exit, he said. The force of the blast was so strong that it knocked Auyeng down. His cousin, Terry Kang, was gashed on a hand, and his hair was singed.

The explosion was reported at 11:08 a.m. Fire Chief Ed Phipps noted that there could have been even more injuries if the explosion had occurred during the noon hour. The fire was brought under control within half an hour.

Six people were listed in serious condition with second- and third-degree burns in the city’s main trauma hospital, San Francisco General. All but 11 of the injured people had been released from various hospitals by late in the afternoon.

Sam Lam, 39, owner of a food and herb store next door to the Canton Tea House, said the force of the blast knocked boxes off his walls.

“It felt like an earthquake. It was very loud,” Lam said.

Lam said an off-duty San Francisco police officer, Phil Wong, whose beat is Chinatown, happened to be walking by when the explosion occurred. Wong phoned for help and immediately began pulling injured people out of the building. A police spokesman said Wong followed some of the injured Chinese-speaking people to a hospital to help translate for emergency hospital staffers.

“I heard a big explosion and glass flew across the street. The building was shaking. We were all scared,” said Paul Lee, co-owner of New Lin Wah, a grocery store across from the restaurant.