Blaze Injures Man, Forces Pregnant Woman to Jump : Accident: Investigators believe drug use was behind the apartment fire, ignited by a propane tank explosion.

A propane tank explosion in a second-story apartment ignited a fast-moving fire that burned a man and prompted his pregnant girlfriend to jump to safety, Fire Department investigators said Monday.

Debra Cobb, 35, who is eight months pregnant, leaped about 15 feet and landed with the help of at least one unidentified passerby as flames roared through the apartment Sunday night, said witnesses and Fire Department officials.

The fire in the 7100 block of Fenway Drive started about 10:30 when Nick Anderson, 34, was allegedly smoking crystal methamphetamine--a powerful, illegal stimulant, said Fire Capt. Craig Campbell. A tank of propane being used to boil the crystalline drug ignited and exploded, Campbell said.

Fire investigators, who have not been able to talk with Anderson because of his injuries, determined that drug use was behind the fire based on interviews with neighbors, he said.

The blaze caused about $100,000 damage to the couple’s apartment, fire investigators said.

Police, who have concluded their investigation into possible drug use in the apartment, found no evidence of drugs but believe they could have been burned in the fire, Lt. Larry Woessner said.

Anderson was in good condition Monday at UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he is being treated for respiratory burns and second-degree burns to his face and hands, a hospital spokeswoman said. Cobb was in fair condition at the same hospital and being held for observation; doctors want to check the condition of her fetus, the spokeswoman said.

The fire began in their corner apartment, which is above a long row of garages. The flames quickly spread through a common wall to an adjacent apartment, where Gabriel Mendoza, 28, slept with his wife and young child.

Mendoza, who returned to the apartment complex Monday to collect some belongings for his family, said he was awakened by the rumbling of an explosion. “I woke up and was going to the window to see what was going on, and I felt the floor shaking,” he recalled.

“The wall just cracked,” said Mendoza. He and his family escaped unharmed down the stairs.

Thirty firefighters extinguished the two-alarm fire in about 15 minutes.