Electrical Fireball Injures 4

An explosion like “a wall of fire” erupted from a sidewalk electrical vault in Costa Mesa as workers tried to restart a transformer today, sending four men hurtling through the air and seriously injuring two of them.

“It was about a 50- to 100-foot fireball followed by a bunch of smoke,” police Officer Steve Rautus said. “It knocked them back 20, 30 feet. It was just a wall of fire.” Gary Owsley, 36, and Louis Gonzales, 42, employees of Southern California Edison Co., were reported in stable condition at UC Irvine Medical Center. Edison employee Ray Navia and Chris Doll, a Costa Mesa transportation department worker, suffered minor burns and were taken to Costa Mesa Medical Center, police said. The cause of the 9 a.m. blast was under investigation.