2 dead after fireworks ignite explosion at California house

ONTARIO, Calif. — Two people were killed Tuesday after an explosion set off by fireworks rocked a California house, authorities said.

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The explosion occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. EDT in Ontario, located east of Los Angeles in San Bernadino County, KABC reported.

Ontario Fire Chief Ray Gayk said in a news conference that commercial-grade fireworks set off the fire at a 1-acre residential lot.

“They are commercial grade like you would normally see in the fireworks show,” Gayk told reporters.

Fireworks are illegal in Ontario, The Associated Press reported. Ontario Police Chief Mike Lorenz said officers have been called to the area before for reports of fireworks being ignited.

The Ontario Fire Bomb Squad was clearing the area Tuesday, and several agencies including the FBI are investigating the incident, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Gayk also told reporters that a horse was injured in the explosion. Video from KABC showed a horse, smudged with black soot, trotting around the property after firefighters freed it from one building’s wreckage.

The city tweeted that a large cache of fireworks ignited at the house, setting it on fire, the Times reported. Smoke could be seen from as far away as Anaheim, according to the newspaper.

Two structures on the same lot -- a front and back house -- were engulfed in flames after the explosion, Ontario spokesman Dan Bell said.

“The roof is gone, burned out,” Bell said of the rear property. “The one on the front -- I was on the street; I could see flames coming through the roof. It will most likely be a total loss.”

The fire department issued an evacuation order for the area and set up a temporary reception facility for residents, KTLA reported.

More than 50 firefighters were hosing water onto the smoldering fire at about 2:30 p.m. PDT, Bell told reporters. Investigators have not entered any of the structures yet because of the fireworks, he said.

“We’re hoping we can get on scene and start this investigation process and get those neighbors home as quickly as possible,” Bell said.

Jennifer Nalbandian, 43, was sitting on the couch in her living room when the explosion shook her house, the Times reported.

“My daughter says to me, ‘No, mom, I think it came from the sky,’” Nalbandian told the newspaper.

Nalbandian said when she opened her front door, “The boom pushed me back, and the window shattered.”

“I got hit with the after blast when I opened the door,” Nalbandian told the Times. “Fireworks always go off over here. It shook the whole apartment from left to right.”

A woman who works at Ontario Maple Head Start/State Preschool near the explosion said the blast blew out windows in the school building.

“We thought at first it was an earthquake until we went outside and then (saw) some smoke,” the woman, who wished to be identified as Nicole, told the Times. “And then we heard a second really loud boom ... with stuff flying everywhere.”

Cox Media Group