Tijuana

Twenty-eight people, most of them Tijuana firefighters and police officers, were injured early Thursday while battling to control a fire that damaged six stores in the heart of Tijuana’s tourist district.

Two firefighters remained hospitalized in critical condition Thursday afternoon, along with four other firefighters and two police officers in fair to good condition at the Isstecali Hospital in Tijuana, fire officials said.

The 29-year-old owner of the store where the fire started, who was not identified, was in fair condition at UC San Diego Medical Center with second- and third-degree burns on his hands and second-degree burns on his face, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The fire began about 2 a.m. at La Piel, a leather goods store on Avenida Revolucion, said fire official Julio Orduna. Most of the injuries--burns, cuts and bruises--occurred shortly afterward when an explosion or back-draft sent flames and glass flying, he said.

An electrical short circuit caused by heavy rain may have sparked the blaze, Orduna said.