Gas Fumes Ignite at Repair Shop; 2 Burned

Apilot light ignited gasoline vapors Wednesday at an engine repair shop in Chatsworth, seriously burning two men, the Los Angeles City Fire Department reported.

The men, both in their 20s, were taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center with second-degree burns, Battalion Chief Walt Wilmington said. The victims’ names were withheld until relatives could be notified.

The men, who are employees of the shop, were walking outside the building in the 20200 block of Prairie Street when a pilot light in an engine-cleaning oven ignited vapors from gasoline that was being poured into a drum, Wilmington said. The flash ignited some nearby cardboard, but firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, he said.