Gas Explosion Kills Woman, Injures Man

An elderly woman was killed and her husband critically injured when a natural-gas explosion ignited a house fire early Thursday.

Killed in the 1 a.m. fire was Thelma Baranowski, 74, a seamstress who specialized in bridal gowns and who had been sewing in her workroom, authorities said. Retired engineer Walter Baranowski, found unconscious on the couple’s bed, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange where he is listed in critical condition from smoke inhalation. He also suffered minor burns.

The blaze started in the kitchen of 437 S. Wheeler Place, according to Fire Capt. David M. Smith. Firefighters from three departments took 20 minutes to control the flames, which caused $200,000 damage to the four-bedroom home.

There was some confusion about Walter Baranowski’s, age. Voting records list him as 92, but fire officials and neighbors said he is in his early 70s.

The cause of the fire was a faulty aluminum line connecting the gas pipe to the stove on top of a kitchen counter, Smith said. The line ran through a cabinet containing pots and pans underneath the stove, and it might have been loosened or cracked after being constantly rubbed by kitchen utensils over the years, fire officials said.

Officials could not determine how long the line had been leaking gas. The gas rose and probably accumulated near the ceiling before it met a heat source such as a stove top, the nearby oven or the refrigerator’s electric motor, Smith said. Gas might have been leaking for days but vented through opened windows. Smith guessed that the windows could have been shut Wednesday evening, trapping the fuel.

“If you smell gas, you should report it right away to the gas company,” Smith said. “They’ll come out to check everything for you, the pipe fittings, the pilot light. If people just take time to report it, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.”

The explosion broke the bedroom window of next-door-neighbor Gloria Turner, who called 911. The window faced south to the Baranowski’s kitchen. The fire also burned a hole in her roof, but the Turners were not injured.

The Turners, who moved into the neighborhood three years ago, recalled that the Baranowskis had immediately paid them a welcome visit.

An upset Gloria Turner described the elderly couple as healthy and “in great shape.”

“They were very nice people. I just talked to him (Wednesday) afternoon when he was mowing his lawn,” Turner said. The Baranowskis had lived in their house for at least 30 years.

In the pre-dawn hours, the loud explosion and glowing flames drew people in nightgowns and robes out of their homes to watch firefighters attempt to rescue the Baranowskis. Throughout the morning, they gathered again on the street in small groups to talk about the tragedy.

Thelma Baranowski liked to sew at night, neighbors said. Early Thursday, she might have heard the explosion, walked to the door and was hit by the hot gas and flames racing down the hallway, Smith said.

“She was probably startled and took a deep breath of all that hot gas,” he said. She was pronounced dead on arrival at Chapman General Hospital in Orange.

Smith said that because Walter Baranowski was lying on a bed--below the level where the gas might have reached--he avoided more serious injury.

The couple’s black puppy, Dusty, was found wet but alive about eight hours after the fire, crouched under two desks in a back bedroom. He was taken to the Orange County Animal Shelter.

Thelma Baranowski is also survived by a daughter, 34-year-old Deedee Cantley of Rowland Heights in Los Angeles County, Smith said.