Three people on a movie set were hospitalized in critical condition with burns after an explosion near Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon sparked a small wildfire, the authorities said.

Fire crews used two helicopters to extinguish the blaze, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which said the fire had been contained after scorching an acre of a hillside.

The explosion happened around 4:45 p.m. in a canyon in Santa Clarita, Calif., fire officials said.

The authorities did not disclose details about the movie that was being filmed at the time of the blast. Along with fire crews, a hazardous materials unit responded to the scene, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter.

It was also not immediately clear what had caused the explosion, which a nearby resident told The Signal newspaper of Santa Clarita had sounded like an earthquake.

“There was this loud boom,” the resident, Amy Mader, said, “and I thought it felt if something were to have hit your house, like a crane or something weird. I felt it through the walls.”

The mixed-used industrial area north of Los Angeles is a magnet for movie projects. The site of the explosion is near the Southern California Innovation Park, a 100-acre property made up of office and industrial buildings that the Santa Clarita Film Office features on its film office website as a versatile movie set location.

The Santa Clarita Film Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday night, but it told The Los Angeles Times that no film permits had been issued for the area on Tuesday. The city’s mayor also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is known as Cal Fire, the initial investigation of the explosion was being handled by county fire officials. If pyrotechnic materials were involved in the blast, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire said, the inquiry could be turned over to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Source: Read Full Article