Nine L.A. firefighters injured, two critically, in semi-truck explosion in Wilmington

Nine Los Angeles firefighters were injured when a natural-gas-powered semi-truck that had caught fire exploded in Wilmington early Thursday, sending 30-foot flames into the air and rattling neighbors.

The situation began shortly before 7 a.m. when 10 firefighters responded to 1120 Alameda St. to extinguish a vehicle fire. Six minutes after they arrived — as they attempted to squelch the flames — a 100-gallon compressed natural gas tank that helped power the truck exploded, according to fire officials.

The blast sent up a plume of black smoke and a fireball that was large enough to reach a transformer on a power line, damaging it.

Nine firefighters were transported to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. As of Thursday afternoon, two remained in critical condition while the others were being treated for general injuries. One of the firefighters in critical condition was transferred to Los Angeles General Medical Center, which operates one of only three burn centers in the city, the hospital said.

“This is a difficult day in Los Angeles,” Mayor Karen Bass said during a morning news conference at Harbor-UCLA.

“I’m here with a simple message to our firefighters in the building behind me and in fire stations across our city watching the news this morning unfold: The 4 million people of Los Angeles stand with you.”

The semi, which did not have a trailer used to transport cargo, was unique in that it wasn’t powered by diesel. It was a clean-air vehicle fueled by two 100-gallon tanks of compressed natural gas mounted on either side of the truck. The tanks were under 3,300 pounds of pressure, so when one exploded, the blast was significant, L.A. Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott said.

It is unclear what caused the truck to catch fire. The driver, who was unharmed, told fire officials she noticed “abnormalities” in the two tanks that power the vehicle, so she stepped outside and called 911.

Video from the scene showed the blackened truck sitting adjacent to railroad tracks and debris scattered across Alameda Street, a major thoroughfare that runs from Wilmington through South Los Angeles. One of the gas cylinders affixed to the truck burned for several hours, officials said, creating a challenge for firefighters and residents who feared another explosion.

“Obviously, this is a hectic scene,” Scott said.

Bernix Aguilar, 48, was brewing coffee in the kitchen of his 1912 single-story home in Wilmington in the morning when an intense jolt lifted him off the ground.

Neighbors ran outside baffled by the thunderous sound that carried enough power to shake their homes. Many thought it was an earthquake. Then they saw the smoke.

It’s not unusual to hear industrial sounds in Aguilar’s slice of Wilmington, a largely Latino neighborhood that sits across the railroad tracks from an oil refinery, trucking company and recycling center.

In late January, a broken pipe at a nearby oil refinery sent a mix of oil, gas and water spewing onto a street a mile from Aguilar’s neighborhood.

But this was different.

“I literally went up and came back down,” Aguilar said, jumping slowly to show the way his feet lifted off the ground. The blast left cracks in the exterior and interior walls of his home and damaged his window sills.

Fire officials broadcast a frantic call for help over the radio shortly after the blast.

“I need you to dispatch the five closest fire resources and five paramedic rescues. We’ve had an explosion,” a man said on the broadcast.

A different, more strained voice from the scene, came over the radio, with a man shouting: “Mayday, mayday, mayday!”

Dr. Molly Deane, a trauma surgeon at Harbor-UCLA, said that after the firefighters were stabilized, she watched video of the explosion. She said it was “remarkable that none of them were more severely injured.”

Video shows the moment a truck explodes in Wilmington, injured multiple firefighters.

A woman who lives in a nearby neighborhood, who did not want to provide her name to The Times, was standing outside her home watching a plume of black smoke billowing from the fire site in the moments before the truck exploded. The force of the blast knocked her back several feet.

Neighbors watched as Los Angeles Port Police evacuated homes that had windows facing the blast site. Hazardous materials specialists were on scene throughout the day monitoring air quality, and though levels were reported to be within the normal range, fire officials urged residents to stay away.

City Councilmember Tim McOsker offered words of support to the injured and said the situation was a reminder of the often perilous conditions firefighters face.

“I’m grateful for the brave first responders of our great Fire Department who arrived quickly to contain the situation, racing toward danger to protect our community,” he said.

Priscilla Tena, who has lived for 15 years in the neighborhood adjacent to where the explosion occurred, thought the blast was an earthquake.

She said the thunderous explosion was strong enough to shake entire homes. Some residents were worried their foundations had been damaged.

“We’ll be praying for them,” Tena said of the injured firefighters. “It’s scary because, look where we live, like in the middle of a refinery-ville.”