Blast Blamed on Gas Buildup

A buildup of natural gas caused the explosion that leveled a Torrance home, damaged scores of others and rained glass, stucco and other debris over a two-block area, investigators said Wednesday.

A Southern California Gas Co. official said investigators found a crack in the pipe that fed natural gas into the home--which had been tented for termite fumigation--but they had not yet determined how or when the damage occurred, and they were still trying to figure out what caused gas to build up in the fumigation tent.

The home’s residents were away when it blew up at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday, slightly injuring 10 people, damaging neighboring homes and shattering windows as far as three blocks away. It appeared that the fumigation company had turned off the gas to the house, a standard procedure, utility officials said.

Initially, fire officials said at least 80 homes suffered various degrees of damage; they later revised that number to 33 in Torrance and about 80 in adjacent Redondo Beach.

Building inspectors deemed one house in Torrance unsafe for occupation and gave residents only limited access to nine others.

Officials have not determined the dollar amount of the losses.

As cleanup continued Wednesday at the site in the 20900 block of Tom Lee Avenue, city officials were arranging a meeting for affected residents to help with insurance and other problems. It will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at West High School.

In a related development, a state Department of Consumer Affairs official said Wednesday that the fumigator had nearly lost his license in 1996 after the department’s Structural Pest Control Board cited him for eight health and safety violations.

Tony Poat, now with Anaheim-based Network Fumigation, was ordered to pay a fine, had his license suspended for five days, was required to take a brush-up course in fumigation practices, and was placed on three years’ probation, according to department spokesman Mike Luery.

Poat has not been cited for serious violations since then, although his record lists fines on four occasions from agriculture commissioners in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The fines, ranging from $50 to $205, were for such things as improper record keeping and not having a washing facility on a fumigation truck.

The home’s owners hired Gardena-based El Redondo Termite Control, which turned over the job to Network. Subcontracting is a common practice among fumigators, Luery said. The attorney for the El Redondo firm Tuesday referred inquiries about the case to Network, which declined to comment.

Although investigators had not yet determined who is responsible for the explosion, Luery encouraged homeowners considering fumigation to check on contractors’ backgrounds and to ask whether and to whom any work would be subcontracted.

The Department of Consumer Affairs posts contractors’ records on its Web site www.dca.ca.gov (the site does not include fines levied by a county for less serious violations).