2 Boys Burned by Gas Explosion in Apartment

HAWTHORNE —  Two boys suffered burns Monday morning in a natural gas explosion that blew the windows out of their apartment.

A bicycle bumped the gas valve of a dryer in the Vera Estates apartments in the 4600 block of West 120th Street, causing a leak, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Mark Whaling. Smelling gas, the children’s mother called the gas company, and was told to open all the windows in the two-bedroom apartment and go outside. Before she could open a window, there was an explosion, apparently ignited by the pilot light of a water heater, Whaling said.

The explosion rocked the building with such force that all of the apartment unit’s windows blew out, spraying shards of glass up to 100 feet. Some of the walls were knocked off the foundation and a sofa caught fire.

“I saw all this glass come out of the window as I was walking by,” said Nyota Harris, 21, of Hawthorne. “If I was any closer, I would have been all cut up.”

The boys, ages 6 and 8, were taken to Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center for treatment of first- and second-degree burns on their chests and shoulders, said hospital spokesman Zippy Frankel.