Explosion Kills One, Destroys House

An explosion ripped apart a house and an adjacent garage Sunday in south Los Angeles, killing at least one person, authorities said.

“It’s a gruesome scene back there,” city Fire Battalion Chief Dennis Willahan said. Only the concrete foundation and steps leading to the front door remained of what was a wood-frame house on West 51st Street.

The blast scattered pieces of debris onto power lines, police said. The victim had not been identified.

The cause of the blast was under investigation. Willahan said highly explosive oxygen tanks were found at the scene. He said the tanks belonged to a 48-year-old woman who died of cancer last week.

A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, Officer Mike Schwehr, said officers from the 77th Street Division were investigating whether the 4:30 p.m. explosion may have been set off by an illegal drug lab.

A woman who lives in the home in front of the destroyed house said she was talking to her son on the telephone when the blast occurred.

“I heard a real loud explosion, jumped up and saw my back windows blown out,” Sharlotte Smith said.

Five nearby residences were damaged by fire after the explosion.

Nine fire companies took more than an hour to put out the blaze, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo.

Paramedics treated four people for minor injuries at the scene, he said.

Five adults and three children were left homeless by the fire and were attended to by the Red Cross.