Flash Fire Injures 3 Workers, Causes Power Outage

Two cable splicers were seriously burned and a foreman was injured in a flash fire Wednesday in the Hacienda Heights area, Southern California Edison Co. said.

Spokeswoman Becky Sordolet said about 1,200 customers lost power for more than an hour because of the 11 a.m. accident. Cause of the fire in an underground vault near Copper Hill Road and Countrywood Avenue was not immediately determined.

The cable splicers were flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. One man was in the intensive care unit with first- and second- degree burns over 34% of his body, spokeswoman Melanie Savage said. The other man suffered second- and third-degree burns on his face and hands. The foreman, who suffered what Savage said was similar to a “bad sunburn,” was taken to Whittier Community Hospital.

The names of the three men were not immediately released.