At least six people were killed when a gas pipeline exploded and set off a fire that engulfed a neighbourhood near San Francisco, local media said Friday. San Bruno Fire Captain Charlie Barringer told the Los Angeles Times he expected the toll to rise as more homes were searched.
More than 100 residents were forced to flee and than 170 homes damaged or destroyed as the blast ripped through the town of San Bruno and triggered a giant fire, parts of which were still raging before dawn Friday, more than nine hours after the initial explosion. California's acting governor Abel Maldonado, filling in for Governor Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger who is travelling in Asia, declared a state of emergency for the city just two miles (three kilometers) west of the San Francisco International Airport.
Local officials pleaded with residents to register at emergency shelters as fire-fighters sifted battled one of the largest fires to strike a US city or dense neighbourhood in years. "I'm sure we'll find people who have not made it," Maldonado told CNN in the pre-dawn dark where he was overseeing the fire response. The devastation - which included the loss of 53 homes, damage to at least 120 more, and injuries to up to 38 people - was startling, said Maldonado.
"It looks like a bomb went off," he said after touring the destruction. Maldonado said he saw several cars still in the driveways of homes that were destroyed or damaged in the disaster. "That tells me people didn't leave, and that is of grave concern," he said. "The numbers are going to change all morning. It's going to be sad."
San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane confirmed that it was a high-pressure, 24-inch-wide (60-centimeter-wide) natural gas line that ruptured, causing the thunderous explosion that triggered the inferno. "A terrible, terrible tragedy has fallen on our city," Ruane said. The top priority, he said, was "making sure our citizens are safe." "This is going to be a long haul for the city and our residents," he added.
In one street a dozen homes were seen engulfed in flames. Witnesses spoke of a smoldering crater the size of a city intersection, while scores of raging fires turned San Bruno's smoke-filled night sky orange. Up to 200 fire-fighters were dispatched to battle the blaze, but they were no match for flames whose intense heat reportedly melted fire truck windows and car taillights several dozen yards (meters) from the flames.
Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Jeff Smith described the fire as "an absolutely horrible situation," and said that if it turns out the utility was to blame, "we will absolutely take accountability for it." People wept as they fled while others paused to capture the chaotic scene on cell phone cameras.
"I heard a sound like a low flying plane, then all of a sudden the house shook," said Tina DiIoia, who was with her baby in their condominium in San Bruno, just south of San Francisco, when the explosion occurred about a kilometer away. "Then there was another explosion. I went outside and there was debris falling from the air." Helicopters and airplanes were seen dumping water and fire retardant chemicals in an effort to stanch the flames.
Several homes were thoroughly razed by the fire, cars were burned down to their frames, and debris - including large chunks of asphalt upended by the explosion - littered the streets. "It looks like the entire mountainside is burning," DiIoia said. "It was just a huge explosion," one resident recounted. "More than that, we felt the heat. It was a huge heat wave that sucked the air out for a minute."
A huge fountain of flames blasted from the ground like a blow torch where the pipe was ruptured and fire spread relentlessly to houses in several directions. More than 30 people were treated at local hospitals, with emergency rooms going on alert and some victims rushed to burn units, according to emergency workers. "This is really a tragedy," said Kaiser Permanente medical facility spokesman Karl Sonkin. "We are caring for people as best we can."
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