SANTA ANA : Local Man Killed by Gas Pump Fire
Investigators in Merced County were trying to determine Friday what ignited flames that erupted while a Santa Ana man was pumping gasoline into his pickup truck, fatally injuring him.
Antonio Jose Luna, 38, was burned over 90% of his body and died Thursday night at Dameron Hospital in Stockton, several hours after he was engulfed in flames at a gas station near Interstate 5 and Sullivan Road, authorities said.
Luna, the sole occupant of his truck, pulled into the Exxon gas station near the small town of Gustine about 11:15 a.m. Thursday, said Sgt. Mark Pazin of the Merced County Sheriff’s Department.
As Luna was hurriedly filling his gas tank, Pazin said, gasoline splashed onto him and within seconds he was engulfed in flames.
The gas station attendant shut off the gasoline and rushed to help the man. Sheriff’s deputies found a cigarette lighter at the scene of the fire but said they did not know if it might have sparked the flames.
“We don’t know if the pump is faulty,” Pazin said. “We don’t know if it was human error or mechanical error.”
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