One Man Killed, Two Critically Injured When Fumes Overcome Demolition Crew

One demolition worker died, two others were critically injured and a score of other workers and public safety employees required hospital treatment Wednesday morning after they were exposed to an unidentified gas in an excavation site at a Covina shopping center.

The Covina Town Square Mall was evacuated and surrounding streets closed to traffic as Los Angeles County hazardous-materials teams decontaminated workers and prepared to search Wednesday night for the source of the gas.

The dead man’s identity was not released pending notification of next of kin.

Hours after three workers collapsed in the partially demolished basement of a Sears store 30 feet below ground, officials remained unsure of the cause. The demolition company, American Wrecking Inc., declined comment.

“We have no idea of the nature of the fumes,” said acting Covina Fire Chief Al LeCou. There was no explosion and testing found no natural gas.

The workmen “were cutting something with welding torches,” LeCou said. “The person doing the cutting was overcome immediately. His co-workers tried to help him and they were overcome also.”

As dusk fell, the excavation pit remained sealed off--a temporary grave for the dead worker, whose body remained there.

Twenty-three people, including nine police and fire personnel who had rushed to the scene, required medical treatment at three area hospitals.

Besides the two critically injured men, four other victims were in serious condition; the remainder were in good or fair condition or had been released. The patients complained of chest pains, shortness of breath and nausea.

Many were exposed when they went to help.

Nine demolition workers “tied each other together with a rope and went in to pull the other three out”--in the process contaminating themselves, Covina Police Lt. Dave Miles said.

The first rescue workers on the scene were mistakenly told the men had fallen, and did not don protective clothing, LeCou said.

“We don’t know what happened,” said Gabriel Garcia, a construction crew supervisor at the site. “Apparently they were overcome by gas, poisoned gas, something that shouldn’t happen,” he said as he began to cry for his 36-year-old cousin, who was critically injured.

“We grew up together,” Garcia sobbed.

A spokesman for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which sent two investigators to the scene, said this type of accident was rare in construction or demolition work.

“Usually we see this type of accident in other industries” that use solvents, spokesman Rick Rice said.

When laborers are in enclosed spaces--as the three men apparently were--the air is supposed to be monitored for gas, Rice added. It was not immediately known what precautions had been taken at the site, which was being cleared to make way for a 30-screen movie theater.

“This is a terrible tragedy for the city of Covina,” Mayor Linda Sarver said. “The entire city extends our sympathies” to the victims’ families.

Police diverted traffic from main streets leading to the shopping center and evacuated the center’s stores.

“The police officers came. They said we had three minutes to get out,” said Sanjay Bhakta, the owner of a Subway sandwich shop next to the demolition area. “We told all the people in the restaurant we had to evacuate.”

He said he looked outside to the parking lot to see people scattering across the asphalt.

At least 13 ambulances stood by Wednesday afternoon as hazardous-materials teams in blue “moon suits” decontaminated firefighters. Standing in their underwear in plastic wading pools, the men were hosed down with a chemical foam.

Workplace safety experts have long been concerned about “confined spaces”: areas with small openings for entry and exit, unfavorable natural ventilation or an area not designed for continuous worker occupancy. Deaths generally occur when a worker enters a confined space not knowing there is a lack of oxygen or that the area is pervaded by toxic chemicals that can swiftly be fatal.

The vast majority of confined-space incidents involve multiple fatalities. Generally, at least one would-be rescuer perishes, as well as the original victim, according to studies by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The agency first published confined-space safety guidelines in 1989.