El Cajon

San Diego County deputy sheriffs and the California Department of Forestry responded to an explosion and fire at a methamphetamine laboratory in a house that rocked a neighborhood just east of El Cajon and injured one man, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said Thursday.

Sheriff’s deputies dispatched to the scene Wednesday night found Eugene Reddick, 30, of Spring Valley, lying near the house with second- and third-degree burns on his face, head, hands and arms. Neighbors saw two men and three women running from the house in the 1900 block of Dehesa Road shortly after the 9:35 p.m. explosion, the spokeswoman said.

Reddick was transported by ambulance to UC San Diego Medical Center’s burn unit, where he was listed in fair condition Thursday.

This is the second methamphetamine-related explosion this year on the property, which belongs to Michael J. Junkin, 29. In April, a similar explosion caused $45,000 damage to a mobile home on the property, investigators said, adding that it was caused by hazardous chemicals being used in an illegal drug laboratory.

Junkin is being sought for questioning, as well as the five people who fled, the spokeswoman said.