UPDATE, OCT. 12, 2:09 P.M.: Newport Beach fire officials still haven't found the cause of an explosion that sent four people to a hospital this morning. Three are in serious condition with burns to their arms
and faces, while the fourth, who drove to the
hospital, sustained moderate injuries. All four are believed to be employees of the Baywood Apartment Homes.
Firefighters arrived to discover the smell of gasoline and a fire that seemed to originate in the area of an outdoor water heater shed. Smoke and flames poured out out of two apartments on the first level. About 50 people were evacuated.
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UPDATE, OCT. 12, 11:21 A.M.: Newport Beach fire officials confirm
four people were rushed to a hospital, two with critical injuries, as a
result of this morning's Baywood Drive explosion.
KABC/Channel 7 is reporting it as a gas explosion, although fire officials have not yet confirmed that.
ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 12, 11 A.M.: Here are two headlines you don't liket to see stacked atop of one another:
“Explosion Reported in Newport Beach”
“Panel: Japan-Level Nuke Crisis Possible Here”
Ladies and germs, the Orange County Register home page:
The referenced explosion was reported at 9:58 a.m. today at a Baywood Drive apartment complex. Five fire department vehicles and three ambulances are reportedly on scene, but any injuries and the cause of the blast have not yet been released.
The San Clemente City Council, addressing residents' concerns about the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station last night, heard from experts on Japan's ongoing disaster. Among those who addressed the council was Dr. Helen Caldicott, co-founder of
Physicians for Social Responsibility, who reportedly said via a live video feed that
“it was gross malfeasance” to build two nuclear reactors next to an
earthquake fault.
On the bright side, neither an explosion nor the threat of one are blamed for Sharon Osbourne's breast mishap.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.