At approximately 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the South Pasadena Police Department received a 9-1-1 call of an explosion and structure fire at 1718 Huntington Drive in South Pasadena.
When police units responded they found a woman “severely injured,” according to SPPD Corporal Craig Phillips, who noted that she was transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital “with burns on her body.”
Fire department units from South Pasadena, Pasadena and Alhambra quickly knocked down the blaze.
“It appears to be some sort of gas explosion,” said Philips, explaining the cause of the fire.
Phillips said the injured woman “really doesn’t know what happened and was woken up with the explosion. She said she was sleeping at the time of the explosion when it knocked her out of bed.”
Phillips said it was a “gas explosion of some kind but we don’t know what the source was at this time. We’re looking into that.”
South Pasadena Fire Chief Paul Riddle said heavy smoke was initially reported to the rear of the apartment complex. Once firefighters opened up the roof, flames began to shoot out of the attic in one of the apartments. Hose lines were subsequently pulled in and firefighters were able extinguish the fire.
Riddle said it appears the fire was contained to one apartment unit at the rear of the structure.
More to come on this story as it develops.
