An explosion at Vallejo High School on Friday morning injured two maintenance workers, Vallejo Fire Captain Arthur Gonzales said.

The department was called at 8:20 a.m. Friday and arrived to find the school, 840 Nebraska St., evacuated, but no evidence of fire or smoke, Gonzales said.

Campus employees led firefighters to a building at the back of the school, where they found the two seriously injured workers.

The injured pair were treated by firefighters and taken by Medic Ambulance to a nearby hospital for treatment of serious injuries, Gonzales said.

Vallejo Fire Department sent three engines and one truck company to the school, and asked for mutual aid from Benicia, American Canyon and Crockett to cover the city during the incident, he said.

Other officials said the school had been damaged Aug. 24 by the Napa earthquake, and that the workers were igniting a pilot light in a room that sometimes is used as a photography laboratory.

Until Friday, that light had been shut off since the earthquake.

The explosion caused additional interior wall damage to the room, which was otherwise unoccupied at the time, Gonzales said.

“No students were injured and classes were allowed to resume in the unaffected portion of the school at approximately 11:30 a.m.,” he said.

“The gas and electrical service was secured to the building, and PG&E was called in,” Gonzales said.
California State Fire Marshal representatives, Vallejo Fire Department investigators, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Vallejo Unified School District are investigating the incident, he said.

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