3 Critically Burned When Propane Ignites

Five people were burned, three of them critically, in a flash fire caused when a propane line ruptured Sunday afternoon at a crowded youth baseball tournament, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Several hundred people were attending the tournament at William S. Hart Pony Baseball Field in the 23400 block of Valencia Boulevard when the fire broke out in the food preparation area at 5:30 p.m., said Lt. Tim Peters of the Sheriff’s Department’s Santa Clarita station.

“As a customer came up and asked for service, one of the workers got up from a chair in which she was sitting,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. “Unfortunately the chair fell over as she stood and hit the propane line.”

Peters said the cooking burners ignited the gas, causing a flash fire that burned the victims, Peters said. Propane could be heard streaming into the air at the time of the fire.

A 13-year-old Valencia boy was in critical condition late Sunday suffering from smoke inhalation and second-degree burns over 36% of his body. He was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital and later was transferred to Torrance Memorial Hospital, said Henry Mayo spokeswoman Janis Newbald.

Also in critical condition, with second-degree burns over 55% of her body, was a 14-year-old Saugus girl taken from Santa Clarita by helicopter to the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital, Newbald said.

A 46-year-old woman, identified as Gloria Grant of Valencia, had burns over 61% of her body, Newbald said. The woman also suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to Torrance Memorial Hospital.

Two other victims, ages 10 and 14, were treated and released, according to Peters.

Sheriff’s arson investigators and the Los Angeles County Fire Department are investigating the accident.