San Bruno, California High Pressure Gas Main explo

[doctorwho]

Just because it isn't the topic of conversation every day anymore - doesn't mean we've forgotten or that anyone should forget...this does NOT only happen in remote areas..

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_large_explosion

Utility company: Gas line ruptured in blast area
.. AP – A massive fire is roars through a mostly residential neighborhood in San Bruno, Calif., Thursday, Sept. …

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The utility company that serves the San Francisco Bay area says one of its gas lines ruptured in the area where a massive blast and fire destroyed homes and sent residents fleeing.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. officials said in an e-mailed statement that the ruptured gas line was theirs, although they cautioned that the cause of the blast has yet to be determined.

The company said it would "take accountability" if it was found to be responsible for the explosion.

Utility crews were on the scene in San Bruno in the hills south of San Francisco working with emergency officials as the explosion was investigated.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) — A massive fire burned homes as it roared through a mostly residential neighborhood in the hills south of San Francisco following a loud explosion that shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet into the air and sent frightened residents fleeing for safety Thursday.

A local fire chief said a gas line explosion likely caused the blast that sent flames tearing through the streets, incinerating possibly more than a dozen homes just after 6 p.m.

"We believe it's a high-pressure gas line that's blown," San Bruno Fire Chief Dennis Haag told KPIX-TV.
Pacific Gas and Electric, the utility company that serves the San Francisco Bay area, had crews in the area investigating the possibility of a natural gas explosion but had no additional information, said spokesman J.D. Guidi.

Following the initial blast, flames reached as high as 60 feet in the air as the fire fueled itself on burning homes. Planes and helicopters flew over the neighborhood dumping water in an effort to stanch the flames.

Witnesses said the blaze was preceded by a loud explosion and huge fireball. They described seeing residents fleeing for safety and rushing to get belongings out of their burning homes.

Connie Bushman returned home to find her block was on fire. She said she ran into her house looking for her 80-year-old father but could not find him. A firefighter told her he had left, but she had not been able to track him down.

"I don't know where my father is, I don't know where my husband is, I don't know where to go," Bushman said.

Victims suffering from serious burns began arriving at San Francisco Bay area hospitals shortly after the blast. An estimate of the number of injured was not immediately available. Hospitals reported receiving at least four victims in critical condition but anticipated more.

Jane Porcelli, 62, said she lives on a hill above where the fire is centered. She said she thought she heard a plane overhead with a struggling engine.

"And then you heard this bang. And everything shook except the floor, so we knew it wasn't an earthquake," Porcelli said.

"I feel helpless that I can't do anything. I just gotta sit by and watch."

Stephanie Mullen, Associated Press news editor for photos based in San Francisco, was attending children's soccer practice with her two children and husband at Crestmoor High School when she saw the blast at 6:14 p.m.

"First, it was a low deep roar and everybody looked up, and we all knew something big was happening," she said. "Then there was a huge explosion with a ball of fire that went up behind the high school several thousand feet into the sky.

"Everybody grabbed their children and ran and put their children in their cars," Mullen said. "It was very clear something awful had happened."

Several minutes later, Mullen was near the fire scene, about a half-mile away in a middle-class neighborhood of 1960s-era homes in hills overlooking San Francisco, the bay and the airport. She said she could feel the heat of the fire on her face although she was three or four blocks away from the blaze. It appeared the fireball was big enough to have engulfed at least several homes.

"I could see families in the backyards of the homes next to where the fire was, bundling their children and trying to get them out of the backyards," she recounted.

She said people in the neighborhood were yelling, "This is awful," "I live down there," and "My family is down there."

Judy and Frank Serrsseque were walking down a hill away from the flames with a makeshift wagon carrying important documents, medication and three cats.

Judy Serrsseque said she heard an explosion, saw that fire was headed toward their home and knew they had to leave. As they fled, they said they saw people burned and people struggling to get their things out of burning houses.

"We got everything together, and we just got out," Judy Serrsseque. "Mostly we're wondering if we have a house to go back to."

[doctorwho]

Gas-line blast in San Bruno - neighborhood burns
Marisa Lagos, Kevin Fagan, Michael Cabanatuan,Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writers

San Francisco Chronicle September 9, 2010 10:03 PM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thursday, September 9, 2010

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/09/BADP1FBJRS.DTL

Read more: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/09/BADP1FBJRS.DTL#ixzz0z6QK5rk2

(09-09) 22:03 PDT SAN BRUNO -- With a thunderous roar heard for miles, a natural gas line explosion ripped through a San Bruno neighborhood 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.

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 almost an hour as emergency crews rushed in, residents cleared out, 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.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. spokesman Jeff Smith said one of the utility's natural gas transmission lines ruptured. The reason for the rupture is unknown, he said.
"If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of this incident, we will take accountability," Smith said. "Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by this terrible situation."

Injured in hospitals
Fifteen people were being treated at Kaiser Medical Center in South San Francisco for burns, smoke inhalation and other injuries, spokeswoman Stacey Wagner said. Some critically burned patients had been transferred earlier to California Pacific Medical Center's St. Luke's campus in San Francisco, she said.

Five injured people were taken to San Francisco General Hospital. Spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said three were in critical condition - a man in his 50s and a woman in her 80s, both suffering from burn injuries, and a woman in her 80s being treated for smoke inhalation.

A woman in her 60s was in serious condition with smoke inhalation, and the fifth victim was in good condition, Kagan said.

A nursing supervisor at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco said two people were being treated there. 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's voice-mail 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 the fire geyser from his backyard, estimating the flames were shooting 200 to 300 feet high.

'I'm hoping for the best'
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 houses with a large "X" after they evacuated families.

"I've loaded up my dogs, and I'm getting ready to go," said Pinochi, 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 also was evacuating, said, "It was so loud, it could have been a nuclear explosion."

Emergency shelter set up
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 front 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 through another exit.

Running out of the heat
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-fourths of a mile away.
"The initial explosion was just deafening," Bishop said.



Read more: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/09/BADP1FBJRS.DTL#ixzz0z6Q4SZsv

[Arch]

Very very sad and unfortunate situation. Keep in mind that was a single 30".

We have two 36" (Nat Gas) and a single 20" (Nat Gas) bisecting the school property (220-250 feet from the building itself) as well as another 36" (Nat Gas) and another 20" (crude oil) by the railroad tracks off the eastern side of the property.

[doctorwho]

Sept 10, 2010 10:08:53 GMT -6 Arch said:

Very very sad and unfortunate situation. Keep in mind that was a single 30".

We have two 36" (Nat Gas) and a single 20" (Nat Gas) bisecting the school property (220-250 feet from the building itself) as well as another 36" (Nat Gas) and another 20" (crude oil) by the railroad tracks off the eastern side of the property.

but remember " what re the odds' ? I wonder if Steckdad has any odds to give these poor people in San Bruno ?

[Arch]

2.5 yrs later and still no word from the District or Kinder Morgan on the exact locations of the shut off valves or even if they have installed the new ones closer to the property because it's now classified as a High Consequence Area per Federal regulations since the school got built there.

*shrug shoulders* No one seems to care. Let's just roll some more dice.

[macrockett]

Any idea what the age of that pipe in San Bruno was Arch?

[Arch]

I don't have age data yet; also trying to get pressure data as well. Might take a while.

[doctorwho]

take a good look folks - anyone who would put others in harms way should be held accountable--one can only hope we never see this..( also remember to triple the impact)

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_large_explosion

By TERENCE CHEA and JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writers Terence Chea And Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press Writers – 36 mins ago
SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Investigators searched the smoldering rubble of a quiet, middle-class neighborhood tucked into the hills overlooking San Francisco on Friday, looking for answers to why a gas line ruptured and fed a giant fireball that killed at least four people.

Firefighters finally contained the fire Friday afternoon, but at least a quarter of the 15 acres of charred homes were still too hot to search. Crews with dogs went house to house and officials said there could be more casualties from the Thursday evening blast. Homes were left with just chimneys standing and smoke still rose from the burned-out wreckage.

"It was pretty devastating," said San Bruno Fire Chief Dennis Haag. "It looks like a moonscape in some areas."

Eight investigators were at the scene Friday and police blocked people from approaching the burned area.

"Until we can determine what caused that, we are protecting that like a crime scene, looking for evidentiary value items," said San Bruno Police Chief Neil Telford.

One man was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of looting and assaulting an officer, Telford said.

At least 50 people were hurt in the blast and fire, with eight in critical condition at area hospitals. The explosion left a giant crater and sent flames tearing through the neighborhood of 1960s-era homes in hills overlooking San Francisco, the bay and the airport.

Click image to see photos from the scene


Reuters/Robert Galbraith
Haag said he didn't know of anyone confirmed missing, though officials were still waiting for all residents to check in. Nearly 40 homes were destroyed and seven significantly damaged. Dozens of other homes suffered less severe damage in the fire.

Christina Veraflor, 41, of Napa, grew up in the neighborhood and said Friday morning that her 67-year-old mother's house was destroyed. Her mother, who had lived in the home for 40 years, was at the movies when the neighborhood erupted in flames.

"I woke up this morning and said, 'I'll go to my mom's and get this and get that.' But there is no mom's anymore," Veraflor said.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. President Chris Johns said Friday morning a steel gas pipe ruptured about three feet underground just before 6:30 p.m Thursday, but crews still haven't been able to determine the cause of the rupture or the ensuing blast because they can't get close enough.

Haag said Friday afternoon they're still not able to access the site of the ruptured gas line because it's covered with water.

The damaged section was isolated and gas flow to the area has been stopped.

After the initial blast, flames reached as high as 100 feet as the fire fueled itself on burning homes, leaving some in total ruins and reducing parked automobiles to burned out hulks.

"It was a continuous whooshing sound as if it was a fed fire," resident Michael Yost said. "It sounded like, you know, you would if you had a blow torch. It's that sound but, you know, a hundred times louder."

Veraflor said she smelled gas at the house during a visit six weeks ago but did not report the smell to the utility.

"You'd get a whiff of it, and it would dissipate," she said.

Johns said the company has heard the reports that some residents smelled gas in the area before the blast.

"Right now, we haven't got confirmation about that, but we have records that we are going back right this minute to try to confirm what exactly those phone calls look like and when they occurred, and we will report back as soon as we know something."

The mood was apprehensive at the evacuation center Friday, where several dozens of people came to get information and services.

Carlene Vasquez did not know what happened to her house and was anxiously waiting for news when her son came up and showed her a picture of her house, still standing, on his mobile phone.

"Oh my house," she said, crying. "That's my house."

Four firefighters suffered minor smoke inhalation injuries and were treated and quickly released, Haag said.

It's not the first time a deadly explosion on a PG&E gas line has devastated a Northern California neighborhood.

On Christmas Eve 2008 an explosion killed a 72-year-old man in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova, destroyed one home and seriously damaged others.

The National Transportation Safety Board's final report said PG&E used a wrong pipe to repair the gas line two years before the explosion. Rancho Cordova residents had reported of a gas smell in the area before the blast.

In response to the NTSB's findings, the company said it had taken "extraordinary measures" to ensure a blast like that would never happen again.

The NTSB has sent a four-member team to San Bruno to investigate Thursday's blast.

The pipeline involved in the accident is under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utility Commission. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said an official from his department would be on the scene "to make sure things are being done correctly."

"We are going to take 24/7 oversight to make sure everything is done correctly, LaHood told reporters in Washington.

However, LaHood added: "The responsibility for this falls under the state of California."

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, investigates pipeline accidents. The Transportation Department, which includes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, regulates pipeline safety.

Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Asia on a trade mission, declared a state of emergency in San Mateo County. He said PG&E had committed to providing temporary housing, food, clothing and other essential needs of the victims.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration made disaster relief funds available to cover 75 percent of the cost of fighting the San Bruno blaze. The money covers equipment, supplies and emergency work such as evacuations, shelter and traffic control.

Stephanie Mullen, Associated Press news editor for photos based in San Francisco, was attending children's soccer practice with her two children and husband at Crestmoor High School when she saw the blast.

She rushed to the fire scene about a half-mile away and said she could feel the heat of the fire on her face although she was three or four blocks away from the blaze.

"I could see families in the backyards of the homes next to where the fire was, bundling their children and trying to get them out of the backyards," she said.

She said people in the neighborhood were yelling, "This is awful" and "My family is down there."

[Arch]

Still looking for more official actuals but it's too early to know for certain - however the reports that people have been reporting a continious gas smell for days leading up to it leads me to believe it was a lower volume line (less pressure than the ones at MV). Oderized gas is usually only transported through 300psi lines or less. The ones at MV are 700+ and would result in a much higher volume of fuel feeding such an event if it were to ever happen.

[refbasics]

Sept 10, 2010 12:00:55 GMT -6 Arch said:

I don't have age data yet; also trying to get pressure data as well. Might take a while.

--------------------------------
some more details

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/11fire.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

Neighborhood in California Is Set Ablaze by Blast
By MALIA WOLLAN and LIZ ROBBINS
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Rescue crews and investigators combed through the rubble of a San Francisco suburb on Friday to search for the missing and try to determine how a ruptured fuel line erupted in an intense fireball that killed at least four people on Thursday night, leaving a horrific scene of destruction covering 15 acres.

Smoke hung over the still-smoldering city of San Bruno, and by Friday morning, the blaze was 75 percent contained, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado said at a news conference. Four people were confirmed dead, 52 people were injured, and three were critically injured with third degree burns, Mr. Maldonado said. A total of 38 structures had burned, and 7 more were damaged, he added.

“The sun is shining but there is a dark cloud over the city,” San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said at that same news conference. “You’ve heard the numbers but the numbers are going to get higher.”

With California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger traveling in Asia on business, his lieutenant declared a local state of emergency and expressed his sympathy to the victims.

“We know that a natural gas line ruptured yesterday around 6:24 p.m., but we don’t know what caused it or what happened,” Lieutenant Governor Maldonado said. “We will find out soon.”

Search and rescue crews, including one from the San Mateo coroner’s office, and with assistance from search dogs, picked through the decimated blocks on Friday and knocked on doors of fire-ravaged homes.

“It looks like a moonscape in some areas,” Millbrae Fire Chief Dennis Haag said. The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates pipeline accidents, said that it was sending a four-member team to the scene.

The blast occurred about 8 miles south of San Francisco, and fire officials said flames reached up to 80 feet in the air.

The boom was so loud and devastating that some officials initially suspected that a plane might have smashed into the neighborhood.

Vijay Duggal was watching football on television when he heard the thundering noise. "I saw a big fireball all around," Mr. Duggal, 60, said in an interview on Friday. “I thought we’d been attacked by a missile. Everything was shaking. I thought, ’this is the end.’"

Mr. Duggal, who has lived in San Bruno for 45 years, grabbed his wife and his mother in law, who was in her nightgown at the time of the explosion, and they ran to the car. His wife did not have time to take her glasses, and they all left without their medications to flee to a friend’s house.

"It was so, so hot," Mr. Duggal said.

Since he left, he has been trying to get information about whether his house still stood, and he doubted whether his two parakeets survived.

“One minute can change your life,” Mr. Duggal said. “Thank God we’re alive.”

As authorities looked into the cause of the blast, residents of the neighborhood said PG&E had a crew doing work there for several days earlier this week but did not take action in response to a pungent gas leak, according to The Bay Citizen.

Shane Musunu and his mother, Gayle Musunu, live at the corner of Glenview and Claremont where the explosion occurred. Residents complained to the work crew about smelling gas, the Musunus said, and they were told to close their garage doors to avoid smelling the gas odor.

Gayle Musunu said she rescued her elderly mother from their house of 40 years, leading her out of the burning building. Both sustained burn injuries, and her mother is in San Francisco General Hospital on life support, according to Ms. Musunu. Gayle was treated and released for facial burns.

“They already knew about the leak and they didn’t do anything,” said Alex Monroy, who also lives on Claremont Drive, not far from where the broken gas main burst into flames.

San Mateo Assemblyman Jerry Hill said he was "outraged" to learn that some residents had complained to PG&E about gas leaks in the neighborhood "for up to three weeks" before the explosion.

Mr. Hill said the pipe that ruptured was installed in 1948.

"I will be working closely with the Public Utilities Commission to ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted into the cause of this fire," Mr. Hill said in a statement.

Christopher P. Johns, President of Pacific Gas and Electric said at this morning’s news conference that the company had seen the news reports with residents saying they had called complaining of gas odors. The company, Mr. Johns said, was investigating those claims and going back through records to determine when those calls were made and what the company’s response was.

"We have yet to be able to get close enough to the actual source to be able to determine exactly why this happened," Mr. Johns said. “We’re working diligently to do that."

The N.T.S.B., records show, previously cited the PG & E Company for shortcomings in its response to a 2008 natural gas leak in Rancho Cordova, one that eventually killed a resident in an explosion. The N.T.S.B. found that the company had used improper piping which allowed gas to leak from a mechanical coupling in 2006. When a neighbor smelled gas, the company delayed nearly 3 hours before sending a properly trained crew to identify the leak, which led to an explosion that same day, according to the N.T.S.B. report.

The explosion erupted on a hillside near Interstates 280 and 380, in a residential area about two miles west of San Francisco International Airport. The gas-transmission pipe was 30 inches in diameter and had been buried about 2.5 to 3 feet below the ground, Mr. Johns said.Capt. Charlie Barringer of the San Bruno Fire Department said that the whole neighborhood was engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived, even though the fire station was only a few blocks from the scene. The water supply in the area was knocked out by the blast, so water to fight the fire had to be pumped from more than two miles away, he said.

Don Ford, a photo journalist, said on CBS 5 that the blast left a deep crater dozens of yards wide. "Tomorrow morning, when the sun comes up, it’s going to be something out of Dante," he said.

In surrounding areas on Thursday night, emergency officials went door to door ordering residents from their homes as firefighters struggled to control the flames.

Lieutenant Governor Maldonado said that 67 pieces of fire-fighting equipment — from local and state fire engines to four air tankers — were deployed. San Francisco Fire chief Joanne Hayes-White said her department alone had about 18 engines and trucks at the scene and about 50 firefighters attacking the blaze, according to local news reports.

Their efforts overnight on Thursday were hampered by strong winds, which appeared to be stoking the fire and increasing the risk of its spreading to more houses, Kelly Huston, a spokesman for the California Emergency Management Agency, told CNN.

“We’ve got aircraft and helicopters literally dropping retardant on homes to try to protect them from catching fire,” he said.

For panicked relatives trying to find their loved ones who fled from the conflagration, the night was fraught with anxiety.

Christina Veraflor, 41, who grew up in San Bruno and now lives in the Napa Valley, saw the news about the explosion on television last night. She called her 67-year-old mother, Gilda Tarzia, but she did not answer, and later Ms. Veraflor said it was because she was at the movies.

Ms. Veraflor said she called one of her mother’s friends who works for the San Francisco Fire Department, and that when firefighters went by her mother’s address, they confirmed that the house had burned to the ground.

“I’m waiting patiently to go up there and see if there is anything, even just some burnt photos,” Ms. Veraflor said. “It’s really about the pictures, not about the TVs and the couches and the brand new shutters.”

She added, between tears, that a friend’s mother is missing and that she has three friends in the hospital in critical condition.

When Ms. Veraflor was visiting her mom about six weeks ago she said she smelled gas but she did not call PG&E. “That happened a lot in that area,” she said. “You would get a whiff of gas and then it would disappear,” she said.


Liz Robbins reported from New York; Malia Wollan from San Bruno, Calif. Andrew W. Lehren and Anahad O’Connor contributed reporting from New York. Shoshana Walter and Gerry Shih of The Bay Citizen contributed reporting from San Bruno, Calif.

[Arch]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzUNX9r0Zr0&feature=player_embedded

[Arch]

Part of the problem early on is conflicting information:

www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/11/california.fire/index.html?hpt=T1


San Bruno, California (CNN) -- A mother and her 13-year-old daughter were among the four people killed in a massive gas-fueled blaze that destroyed part of a California neighborhood, officials said.
The intensely hot fire triggered by a ruptured natural gas transmission line sent giant fireballs shooting 80 feet into the air in a quiet neighborhood of San Bruno, near the San Francisco airport.
By Friday, firefighters had fully contained the blaze, but federal and state investigators had not determined what caused the blast.
Jacqueline Greig, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa were among the dead, San Mateo County Deputy Coroner Michelle Rippy said. A third victim has been identified as Jessica Morales, 20.
Federal authorities began investigating the incident Friday.
"We are not here to determine liability or blame, but we are here to determine the cause of the accident," National Transportation and Safety Board Vice Chairman Christopher Hart told reporters.
Safety questions raised
Hart said they don't know what caused the 30-inch natural gas pipeline, which was installed in 1956, to rupture, but he said they saw part of the pipe that exploded on their first visit to the site Friday.
"We have seen that piece of pipeline that was blown away, and it is really quite amazing to see this huge piece of pipeline blown the distance it was blown," he said.
The investigation will include analyzing many aspects of the blast and its aftermath, he said, including the history of the pipeline, the training and performance of its operators, emergency response and injuries sustained.
Employees involved in operating the pipeline have been tested for drugs and alcohol, he said.
On Friday, scorched homes and the shells of burned-out cars lined charred streets as firefighters battled hot spots and residents clamored to know the cause of their town's devastation. By the afternoon, the fire was reported to be fully contained, but search efforts were still under way.

"It looks like a moonscape in some areas," said San Bruno Fire Chief Dennis Haag, who was visibly shaken at a news conference.
California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado said four people died in the fire. Another 52 people were injured, including three patients who were taken to a hospital with third-degree burns and four firefighters who suffered from smoke inhalation.
Rescue workers initially feared the death toll would climb higher as they combed through the smoldering scene with cadaver dogs. But by Friday evening, no one in the area was unaccounted for and local fire officials had not received reports of any missing people, according to Haag. He said about 100 people had evacuated to shelters.
Search efforts were roughly 95 percent complete. The remaining 5 percent was still too hot to enter, the fire chief added.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company President Chris Johns said Friday that the ruptured gas transmission line had been secured and no more gas is flowing through it.
He said survey teams are walking house to house to "make sure it is safe" for residents to return, and he promised that the company will be transparent in working with federal investigators to learn the cause of the blast.
The fire destroyed 37 homes and damaged eight, California Emergency Management Agency Secretary Matthew Bettenhausen told reporters. Those numbers were considerably lower than the estimate of roughly 170 homes that NTSB's Hart originally said were affected by the blaze.
The fire, which erupted about two miles west of San Francisco International Airport, was about 50 percent contained four hours after it began, Haag said. But the intense, persistent flames made it difficult for crews to get close.
iReport: Ground level view of fire
Gas pipes near homes, windy weather and water supply problems also complicated efforts to combat the flames.
Tim Gutierrez, who lives in a neighborhood near where the blast occurred, told CNN affiliate KRON that people living in the area had smelled natural gas for the past three weeks.
"Every day after work, I would smell the heavy smell coming from the gutter and sewer," he said.
Asked about that account Thursday night, Haag told reporters it was "the first time the fire department's ever had any notice of it."
PG&E's Johns said he had heard accounts of residents complaining of the smell of gas for the past three weeks and the company was looking into whether any phone calls had come in.
"We are really saddened and sorry about this tragedy and we are going to do everything we can to help the folks who have been affected by this," he said.
Companies operating natural gas transmission pipelines reported an average of one death per year from 2004 to 2008, a February report from the Congressional Research Service.
Carl Weimer, head of the watchdog group Pipeline Safety Trust, told CNN that, unfortunately, when it comes to pipelines, for most of the public it's "out of sight, out of mind."
"I'm betting in San Bruno most people didn't even know the pipeline was under their neighborhood," he said.
Weimer noted that there can be multiple causes for a pipeline failure, including unintentional excavation-related damage and, more often, age and corrosion.

[Arch]

Kinder Morgan, and District 204... don't f**k around and ignore this anymore, please.

[doctorwho]

Sept 11, 2010 1:47:47 GMT -6 Arch said:

Kinder Morgan, and District 204... don't f**k around and ignore this anymore, please.

I think the time for 'please' has passed ...

[rew]

I read that because the pipeline ran through a densely populated neighborhood it was classified as "high risk" and therefore subject to more frequent/stringent inspections.

So, IMO, the lesson is the inspections only work to a point and there is always a risk of this happening anywhere there are pipelines.

The school is built, there's no going back, but it was dangerously irresponsible (read stupid) to put it there. Especially when there were alternatives.