Seven Workers Hurt as Explosion Rips Underground Electrical Vault in L.A.

Seven Department of Water and Power workers were injured--four of them critically--and power was knocked out in a six-block area when an explosion ripped through an underground electrical vault downtown at about 3:30 Friday morning.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately determined, but there were no early indications of human error, according to Ken Miyoshi, assistant chief engineer for the DWP.

Miyoshi said four of the men were in the vault below the intersection of 8th and Spring streets, reconnecting some 4,800-volt circuits that had been temporarily shut off for the Metro Rail subway construction project, when they heard “an abnormal, sizzling type of noise.”

As the men started to flee the concrete vault--about 14 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 feet high--Miyoshi said, there suddenly was an electrical arc and an explosion.

Bob McMillen, a DWP engineer, said flames fueled by insulation oil from the circuit junction box on which the men were working instantly engulfed the vault, boiling up out of the manhole above with enough concussive force to shatter some windows in nearby buildings.

Miyoshi said one of the men had managed to climb to the mouth of the manhole by the time the blast occurred, but three remained trapped inside. Several other men were working at the surface beside the manhole at the time of the explosion.

Miyoshi said that despite the danger, the men on the surface--assisted by workers from another DWP crew that had been working nearby--immediately descended into the still-smoldering vault to help the trapped men. The DWP said at least three of the rescuers were injured during their efforts to aid their fallen associates.

The four critically injured victims--Robert McClure, 39, of Lancaster; Robert Landis, 32, of Canyon Country; Kevin White, 22, of Canyon Country and Ted Smissen, 20, of Monrovia--were given emergency treatment at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and California Medical Center before being rushed to the burn center at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital. McClure was said to be the most severely injured.

Brian Wilbur, 20, of Claremont and Clarence Dennis, 28, of Inglewood were listed in serious condition at the Sherman Oaks facility after preliminary treatment at the California Medical Center.

All six sustained major burns over large portions of their upper bodies, according to Dr. Craig S. Miller, the DWP’s medical director. In addition, he said, all six were suffering from smoke inhalation.

The seventh victim--George Gonzales, 34--was listed in fair condition at the Sherman Oaks hospital, where he was being treated for smoke inhalation. Officials said he was not burned.

McClure and Gonzales--both senior cable splicers--were serving as supervisors on the job, which was being done during the early morning hours to minimize the disruption of traffic. Wilbur was working as a helper. The others are trainees.

Traffic lights and electrical systems in about 10 buildings near 8th and Spring streets were knocked out for several hours by the blast, but power was restored by about 7 a.m. Traffic was detoured around a portion of Spring Street through the morning rush hour.

Two DWP employees were injured a year ago when power arced between two cables in an underground vault a few blocks west at 8th Street and Grand Avenue. Explosions in underground DWP vaults in 1986 blew manhole covers into the air in the Fairfax District and in Van Nuys, in one case injuring a motorist who had a cover smash through the windshield of his car.

The largest DWP explosion in recent years occurred last October, when a 20-foot-high transformer blew apart at a receiving station at 5th and Wall streets, blacking out more than four square miles of downtown Los Angeles for hours, tying up morning commuter traffic and bringing the city’s financial center to a virtual standstill. No one was injured in the explosion and resulting fire.

Cal/OSHA, the job safety agency, conducted 199 inspections of the DWP--54 of them in response to reports of accidents--between January, 1979, and December, 1986, according to Richard Stephens, a Cal/OSHA spokesman in San Francisco.

“That’s a lot of investigations, but considering the size (of the DWP), it’s not out of line,” Stephens said.