San Bruno gas-line blast – neighborhood on fire

With a thunderous roar heard for miles, a natural gas line exploded in San Bruno shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, sending up a geyser of fire, critically burning residents and igniting a blaze that gobbled up more than a dozen houses in a residential neighborhood.

The wind-whipped blaze jumped from structure to structure in the area near Skyline Boulevard and Sneath Lane, west of Interstate 280, raging unabated for nearly an hour as emergency crews rushed in, residents cleared out in all directions and ambulance sirens filled the air.

The central ball of fire, fed by the gas line, raged past nightfall before abating. By then, about 20 houses and thick stands of trees were engulfed in flames. Power was cut off to the area, and the only light came from emergency vehicles and the smoldering houses.

Omar Naber and his mother, Lana Naber, were in their home at 1141 Vermont Ave., just east of Skyline and south of Sneath, when the house shook violently about 6:15 p.m.

“I thought it was the biggest earthquake ever,” he said.

Fifteen people were hospitalized at Kaiser Medical Center in South San Francisco. Two people were taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where they were in critical condition, and two were taken to St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.

One spokeswoman at Seton Medical Center in Daly City said she was too busy handling the situation to speak to the press, and a spokeswoman for the San Mateo County coroner said she could not comment on whether the agency has been called to the scene.

A South San Francisco police officer on the disaster scene said the blast had been caused by a gas line.

A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. spokesman said he could not confirm that the fire was being fed by one of the utility’s gas lines, but a field worker told KCBS radio that the cause was a natural gas line. Its workers are investigating the situation.

“We’ve heard all the reports and are currently looking into the situation,” said PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi. “We’ve received multiple reports. We’ve heard about fires. We’ve heard about damage to homes.”

Abelardo Vega, 34, of Daly City, was at a church service nearby and came to check on a friend in the neighborhood when the blast happened. He couldn’t reach the friend but got his cell-phone voicemail message.

“Thanks for your concern,” the message said. “My house did catch on f- fire. Luckily, none of my family got hurt. They’re all OK. … I lost my house.”

Joe Simpson, who lives a half mile from the explosion, said the blast had shaken his house like an earthquake. “I felt it as much as I heard it,” he said.

As night fell, Simpson said he had a startling view of fire geyser from his backyard, estimating the flames were shooting 200 to 300 feet high.

David Pinochi, who lives on Crestmoor Drive a quarter mile away from the explosion, was being evacuated as large bits of ash rained down. Firefighters marked checked houses with a large “X” after they evacuated families.

“I’ve loaded up my dogs and I’m getting ready to go,” said Pinochi said, who ran to get home to check on his children, ages 10, 12, 16. All were safe. “I took my Niner autographed stuff and packed it up. I’m hoping for the best.”

Ed Hornung, who was also evacuating, said, “It was so loud it could have been a nuclear explosion.”

A shelter for residents was established at a San Bruno Parks and Recreation Department center.

Sheriff’s deputies and police began evacuating residents near the fireball within minutes, pounding on doors as the flames raged nearby. They went door to door, ordering people out of their houses as their colleagues set up equipment mere feet away to battle the flames.

Naber and his mother, in their house on Vermont Avenue, rushed for the door after they heard the explosion and tried to open it, but the door handle was too hot. He ran to his room, grabbed his car keys and fled the house with his mother.

As they ran to the car, which was parked on the street, they could see a fireball. The heat was so intense, it burned the hair off his arms, he said as he stood in shock with his mother on Skyline.

“It’s really sad for all those residents, for all the people who were on top of the explosion,” Naber said.

Leigh Bishop, staff pastor at Church of the Highlands in San Bruno, was standing in the parking lot preparing for a night meeting when the blast ripped into the sky.

“It was absolutely frightening,” Bishop said. “A huge yellowing billow of flame. I thought it was right behind our church building and ran in to pull the fire alarm and get everyone out of the church.”

He realized it was about three-quarters of a mile away.

“The initial explosion was just deafening,” Bishop said.
[San Francisco Chronicle]