Blast Damages Newport Beach Bank Building

An explosion caused by a possible electrical surge at the City National Bank Building in Newport Beach broke windows and shattered the ceiling on the fourth floor of the building Saturday, Fire Department officials reported. No one was injured.

Battalion Chief Tom Arnold said a malfunction in a main transformer may have caused the explosion of a steel encasement that holds the electrical wires in the building.

He said there had been a power outage at the bank building earlier and workmen for Southern California Edison Co. were on the scene when the explosion occurred.

Arnold said there was considerable damage on the fourth floor. He said a portion of the ceiling was damaged, a door was blown off its hinges and windows were broken by the explosion.