2 Workers Injured in Apartment Fire

Two maintenance workers suffered minor facial blisters Saturday when a pipe on a gas stove broke and ignited in a vacant apartment, Ventura County Fire Department officials said.

One man declined medical treatment and the second man was treated for second-degree burns and released from a hospital, Battalion Chief Rod Megli said.

The men were moving the stove from an empty Oakwood Village apartment on Gainsborough Road about 11:30 a.m. when a gas pipe broke off from the wall, causing a blaze that destroyed the kitchen. Megli said the blaze was put out in 15 minutes. The cost of damage was estimated at $20,000, authorities said.

Three adjacent apartments were temporarily evacuated so firefighters could knock down drywall to make sure there were no smoldering remnants.