Four hurt in explosion in industrial area near San Diego

POWAY - An explosion rocked a San Diego area energy storage depot on Wednesday, shattering concrete, blowing out a loading dock bay door and sending four people to the hospital, officials said.

The midday blast at Quantum Energy Storage in an industrial area in Poway, just east of San Diego, also deformed another loading dock door and appeared to have caused a partial roof collapse.

Workers in nearby buildings reported that pieces of concrete landed on their buildings, and witness Jeanna Rodriguez, who was a block away, said "it felt like a car hit my building." The San Diego Sheriff's Department confirmed that of five people injured in the blast, four were taken to the hospital. No hazardous materials were released in the blast, according to spokeswoman Jan Caldwell.

Deputies and firefighters evacuated workers from nearby buildings and remained on scene investigating the explosion by early Wednesday evening. Caldwell said there was no immediate word on the cause of the blast.

Reached by phone, Michael Firenze, the chief executive officer of CleanSpark, which is at the same address, said that everyone in his company was safe. "It looks worse than it was," he said. "Quantum does kinetic energy storage - the way it is installed is very, very safe."