Neighbors recall rushing to help family hurt in explosion, seeing children with burns
By Leticia Juarez
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CHINO HILLS, California (KABC) — A home in Chino Hills was partially destroyed in an explosion on Sunday, which injured eight people and damaged two other homes.
Children were among the victims hurt in the blast. The Chino Valley Fire District confirmed the explosion was caused by a gas leak.
“I thought it was a third World War. I thought it was a missile,” said neighbor Larry Lubak.
It was no missile that struck the home on Sierra Vista Drive in Chino Hills Sunday afternoon.
According to a GoFundMe page set up for the Sotelo Family, they had arrived home when one of the children turned on a lamp, and the home exploded.
“My son and I were cooking, and all of the sudden, the house just shook, just really hard,” neighbor Monica Kelly said. “And I told my son, ‘That was an earthquake,’ and he said, ‘No, mom. Something exploded.'”
AIR7 captured images of the destruction and devastation that rocked the Los Serranos neighborhood around 3:45 p.m.
The explosion blew out windows and sent neighbors running outside, unprepared for what they saw next.
“The people next door were screaming. A girl was out in the middle of the street. One of the kids, one of the younger kids, his hair, I guess, got torched,” Larry said.
“The whole house was lying on the ground, you know, the whole front of it… gone,” Larry’s wife, Mary Ellen Luback, said.
“We got out, and I asked, ‘Do they need help?’ And then they said, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ And I said, ‘Get them in the car. Get them in the car, and we’ll drive there. I will drive them to the hospital,'” Kelly said.
Kelly rushed four of the victims, including the children’s mother, to the hospital. Another four were taken by ambulance to a burn center, according to the GoFundMe page.
The family of eight suffered from first, second and third-degree burns.
On Monday afternoon, SoCal Gas was out assessing the damage and investigating the cause of the gas leak. Workers were seen jackhammering in the street.
Meanwhile, neighbors like the Lebaks, who live next door to the Sotelo Family, are praying for their recovery.
“They are wonderful people, wonderful little family, big family, and they are very kind to us,” Mary Ellen said.
According to the GoFundMe page, at least two of the children had to be intubated as they continue their treatment. Further details about the other victims’ conditions were not immediately available.
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