NBC 7’s Dave Summers found out what sparked the explosion.
Two people suffered burn injuries Thursday when a propane tank "exploded" during a company cookout in Kearny Mesa, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Employees were gathering at Cubic Corporation, a defense company with a campus on Balboa Avenue and Ruffin Road, at around 12:30 p.m. when the catering company serving them food had a problem with one of their propane tanks, SDFD Battalion Chief Tommy Charpentier said.
In a statement, Cubic acknowledged the incident but did not comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
Witness reported an explosion and fireball, Chief Charpentier added.
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Two catering company employees were taken to the hospital with severe burns to multiple parts of their bodies and a third person refused medical treatment for a burn injury, according to Charpentier.
The owner of the catering company, Sabor Mexican Grill, was one table away from the blast.
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"People were happy and laughing and eating and everything, then suddenly boom, an explosion," Kamal Warda said.
Warda identified his two injured employees as Frank Solano and Marta Serna. He said they're being treated at the UC San Diego Burn Center.
The cause of the blast is no mystery. Warda said Solano put a spare tank under a working hot grill and it began to leak. It wasn't long before it exploded.
For Sabor Mexican Grill, when it rains it pours. Just last month a man parked in front of their restaurant accidentally put his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake and crashed through the front facade of the restaurant. A customer on the other side of the wall was slightly injured and treated at a local hospital, according to Warda. The restaurant part of the business is closed indefinitely., and now after Thursday's accident, catering will be difficult.
"We’re going to be suffering a little bit with the loss of workers," Warda's daughter Rebecca said. "We’re just not going to be able to support the catering and we’re still waiting on the insurance here."
Cal/OSHA is investigating the incident.
