Two adults were taken to the hospital for burns after a propane tank exploded Sunday morning at a homeless encampment where they were living outside Ventura.
The 52-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman sustained possible second- and third-degree burns in an explosion reported shortly before 8 a.m., Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Ken Truitt said Sunday. It appears the tank exploded after someone lit a cigarette, he said.
The tank appears to be a standard propane tank used for barbecuing, he said.
The victims were transported from the encampment on unincorporated land east of Ventura Harbor to Ventura County Medical Center for burn treatment, Truitt said.
The sheriff’s official did not have an update on their conditions late Sunday afternoon.
Truitt said officers from a unit that works with homeless people and bomb-arson detectives went to the scene, which lies near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Olivas Park Drive.
Truitt did not know if use of the propane tank would rise to the level of a crime but he said officers would look into that possibility.