Man Is Killed After Oxygen Tanks Explode

A Loma Linda man with emphysema died in an apartment fire Sunday night after several tanks of oxygen he used to aid his breathing exploded near his bed, fire authorities said.

The victim, identified by the San Bernardino County coroner as Robert Wright Sr., 63, smoked heavily, and Loma Linda fire officials said a cigarette might have ignited the blaze. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Wright lived with his son and 14-year-old grandson in the second-story apartment, in the 24000 block of University Avenue. The son and grandson were visiting a family member in Apple Valley when the fire began, said neighbors.

“It appears to be accidentally started in [Wright’s] bedroom,” said Rolland Crawford, Loma Linda Fire Department division chief. “We know he was tethered by an oxygen line to a small, wheeled [oxygen] unit due to his health. We understand he did smoke a lot.”

Wright’s body was not discovered until firefighters extinguished the blaze, which damaged nine of the 17 units in the complex. Residents Frank Dececco and Dale Jorgensen said they were roused by the sound of a loud explosion about 11 p.m. Sunday.

“We were yelling outside [Wright’s] door, ‘Is there anybody in there?’ and we heard nothing back,” Jorgensen said.

Dececco said he ran to Wright’s apartment hoping to kick in the door but was forced to retreat.

“I thought maybe there was still time to get the old guy out, but when I got in front of his window, another oxygen tank blew up in my face,” he said. “My hand was cut, my head was bleeding, I had blood in my eye. I had to get out of there.”

The impact of the second blast forced those trying to rescue Wright to flee for their safety, Jorgensen said.

“I set off a stick of dynamite once, and it seemed like this was twice that,” Jorgensen said. “There was a guy standing at the door with a fire extinguisher. He was left black by the smoke coming from that blast.”

The explosions of the oxygen tanks shot chunks of Wright’s bedroom windows 25 feet across the complex’s parking lot. Crawford said the oxygen “certainly intensified” the fire, leaving firefighters to deal with a blaze that was already raging in the attic when they arrived.

“It became a lot of fire real fast,” Crawford said.

Residents whose units were destroyed by fire were invited by the complex’s owner to move into two other complexes the company owns in Loma Linda.