The Daily News of Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — The Sylmar alternative-energy business destroyed by a thunderous explosion Tuesday lacked permits to handle hazardous materials and had close ties to a Simi Valley company where a similar blast killed a worker last year.
Off-duty firefighter Timothy B. Larson, whose brother died in the June 2010 blast, was critically injured Tuesday when a tank containing volatile hydrogen exploded at the company owned by his father. He was being treated after reportedly losing an arm and leg.
The explosion also critically injured consultant William Stehl, 66, scheduled to be tried in New York state next month on federal charges related to a green energy fraud scheme.
Stehl was also present at the Simi Valley explosion at Realm Industries. That company was also owned by the elder Timothy A. Larson, whose 28-year-old son Tyson was killed.
The fireless detonation at 4:20 p.m. Tuesday ripped the roof off the 7,400-square-foot Rainbow of Hope in Sylmar, throwing both men into an alley.
It also blew out its doors and windows, damaging cars and businesses next door and raining debris across an industrial park north of the 210 Freeway.
Firefighters say the blast at the alternative fuel business at 12349 Gladstone Ave. occurred as workers hovered by two pressurized, 8-foot tanks used to extract hydrogen from water.
“At the time, it looked like they were transferring hydrogen gas from one cylinder to another,” said Erika Monterroza of Cal/OSHA, whose worker safety investigators joined local firefighters to probe through the 7,400-square-foot blast site.
“This is something of huge concern at Cal/OSHA. It could have killed other workers.”
Monterroza said Cal/OSHA investigators learned of the blast from news reports without hearing from the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Initially Wednesday, fire officials refused to state the name and nature of the business, or whether an off-duty firefighter had been hurt. Later, they said Timothy B. Larson had suffered critical injuries at the Sylmar plant, but declined to further discuss how the blast occurred. He had been on medical leave from the LAFD.
“I cannot comment on what type of business this was,” said fire spokesman Matt Spence. “Tim was a victim in this incident. He is an employee of the Los Angeles Fire Department. He’s currently off duty for an injury.”
Cal/OSHA officials listed Timothy A. Larson as owner of both Realm Industries of Simi Valley, also known as Realm Catalyst, as well as the Rainbow of Hope company in Sylmar.
Authorities said the June 17, 2010, blast that killed the newlywed Tyson was caused by a pressure tank used to heat water in an attempt to generate hydrogen. It was the second such explosion in 18 months to rock the Realm Industries plant.
The company was cited for three Cal/OSHA violations, with fines of nearly $5,700. It appealed the fines Tuesday at a hearing in Van Nuys, the same day as the second blast.
Realm Catalyst was closed because it was not permitted in Ventura County, according to the state agency.
Los Angeles hazmat officials said the Larson company in Sylmar, which opened last spring, had never obtained a state or local permit to work with hydrogen gas.
“It would be a regulated material that would fall under the right-to-know act,” said Capt. Matthew Gatewood of the fire department’s Environmental Unit, which oversees hazardous materials. “It should have been (registered with us). It was not ... which means it was not permitted.”
City officials expressed concern over the blast victims, as well as potential dangers regarding alternative fuel plants.
“It’s very sad, when someone who has dedicated his life to public safety becomes injured in this manner,” said Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district encompassed the explosion site. “I guarantee you we will investigate fully - what occurred, whether permits were issued, how the hydrogen extraction occurred.”
Many experts say that alternative fuel companies are attempting to cash in on a dangerous hydrogen extracting process known as Brown’s Gas - and dubbed “boom gas” by its German inventors.
The process, which electrolyzes water into oxygen and hydrogen, can combine the two at great risk.
“There are all these different rogue vendors playing with the same dangerous stuff,” said Utah-based Tai Robinson, of Intergalactichydrogen.com, who set a record in 2003 by driving a hydrogen-fueled car across the U.S. “When putting it into a vessel together, it’ll blow.”
“People die all the time. They’ve not researched enough, with knowledge enough, to be playing with hydrogen.”
In early 2010 the U.S. Attorney’s Office in upstate New York indicted Stehl and co-defendant Richard Rossignol on federal charges to commit fraud. Between 2001 and 2009, according to the indictment, they fleeced more than 300 people of more than $7 million who had invested in an alternative energy process to create cheap energy from water.
None of the investors received their promised returns, according to the indictment, while Stehl and Rossignol spent most of the money on themselves.
The Larsons, who had invested in the process and later hired Stehl as a consultant, were not implicated in the alleged scheme.
Stehl, also accused of tax fraud, and Rossignol were arrested in Oxnard in March 2010 and have both pleaded not guilty. Their trial is scheduled for Sept. 19.
“It’s tragic,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Dooley, of the Northern District in New York, after learning of Tuesday’s explosion. “My heart goes out to the Larson family.
“The Larson that was injured could be a witness in my case. I’ll have to see how Mr. Stehl is doing, whether he was injured, or if he can attend trial.”
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