Vitamin Plant Explodes, Burns, Killing 1 Worker : Tragedy: Blast also injures brother of dead man. About 20 employees dash for safety after ceiling caves in.

An explosion and fire ripped through a vitamin manufacturing plant Wednesday afternoon, killing one employee and injuring his brother, authorities said.

The blast claimed the life of a man identified by co-workers and company executives as Simon Pedro Rivera of Sun Valley and injured his brother, Luis Rivera.

Two firefighters were treated at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, one for chest pains, the other for muscle pains.

Los Angeles Fire Department officials said the explosion and fire, which burned for nearly an hour, were apparently caused by an industrial accident.

Fire officials said arson could not be ruled out, but that two highly flammable substances, isopropyl alcohol and an unidentified pharmaceutical glaze, were found in the plant.

“We don’t suspect anything at this time,” Fire Capt. Roy Prince said. “It probably is some sort of a manufacturing problem.”

Prince said isopropyl alcohol could explode if bottled and heated, or that chemicals may have mixed in the air.

Assistant Fire Chief Ed Allen said the explosion occurred at the Gazette Avenue plant, owned by Northridge Laboratories Inc., at 2:53 p.m., and that the plant caught fire immediately. The ceiling caved in as about 20 employees inside dashed for safety.

“There was just a big explosion, and my whole office came on top of me,” said Rudy Barrera, a supervisor at the plant. “I just grabbed my flashlight and ran.”

An employee who works in the pill-coating department but did not give his name said, “All I saw through the hall was a big ball of fire. The lights went out, the ceiling came down. I ran for my life.”

Tony Fuentes, 55, had just left the plant to have a cigarette when he heard the explosion. He turned to see his office window blown into the street, and flames spouting from the roof.

“I’m going to keep this,” he said as he brandished a crumpled pack of cigarettes hours after the blaze. “They saved my life.”

“It sounded like a sonic boom,” said Mark Glowacz, the manufacturing manager at an electronics company next door to the vitamin plant.

“It knocked some pictures off the wall. I went out back and saw what looked like a powder, like soot, pouring out of the back” of the building. He said he then saw flames shooting from the opposite side of the structure, and fled.

The explosion rattled Masterworks, a crafts store across the street. “This whole block just shook,” the owner said. “We thought it was another earthquake.”

Firefighters prevented the blaze from jumping to other companies in the same building by cutting a hole in the roof with chain saws, Allen said.

Emergency workers evacuated the area because they did not know whether smoke from the fire was toxic, but reopened the area when it was determined to be safe, Allen said. They again evacuated the area briefly when blasting caps were found in the electronics plant next door to the vitamin factory.

Allen said Rivera’s body was found in the northeast corner of the building, near the area where the explosion occurred.

Co-workers said Simon Rivera, who they said was married with several children, was a pleasure to work with. “He was a very good guy. He was very close to us,” said the coating worker, his jaw trembling, as he looked at the charred plant from across the street.

“It was just five minutes before break,” he said. “You never know when it’s going to take you.”