Los Angeles police this morning detained and are questioning a "person of interest" in the spate of arson fires occurring around the city since Friday.
Showing posts with label Fire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fire. Show all posts
Monday, January 2, 2012
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
the brave pilot who saved three passengers before perishing in a ball of flames
* Passengers jumped to safety but sudden change of weight sent blimp soaring skywards
* Investigators piecing together last moments of doomed flight
* Wife of Australian pilot pays tribute to 'hero' who stayed at controls
Investigators were today piecing together the last moments before a a Goodyear blimp burst into flames and plunged to earth in a weekend crash in Germany.
The pilot, Michael Nerandzic, 53, was killed but three passengers managed to jump to safety when the airship caught fire as it was coming in to land at the Reichelsheim aerodrome near Friedberg.
When the airship was just two metres from the floor, Mr Nerandzic told his passengers, all journalists, to jump to the ground while he tried to land safely.
But once the three had leapt clear, the sudden loss of weight caused the blimp to soar skywards and burst into flames before crashing to the earth in a chilling echo of the Hindenburg disaster.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear but an investigation was underway.
Klaus Himmler, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, said his office was interviewing witnesses of the accident, collecting evidence and analyzing photos. He said the investigation could take weeks.
Photographer Joachim Storch — who was aboard the helium-filled blimp — said he heard the pilot yell 'We had an accident'.
He said the pilot then shouted 'I crashed the airship' as the smell of fire crept through the blimp.
Storch and two other passengers jumped from a window. The sudden loss of weight caused the ship to shoot into the air, where it burst into flames, killing the pilot.
Mr Nerandzic's widow, Lyndy, says she was due to fly over to meet her husband in a few weeks.
She says he gave his life to save his passengers.
'When there was trouble on the airship he brought it down to as low as he could to let the passengers jump out and he stayed at the controls,' Mrs Nerandzic said.
'As soon as they jumped out of course, being an airship, he knew it would rise up and it did.
'They found him still at the controls when it crashed. He also steered it away from his ground crew.'
Mr Nerandzic's brother, Zorrin Nerandzic, says he was an experienced pilot and well respected in the industry.
'In the airship family he was up the top there as one of the most highly respected pilots you could get,' Mr Nerandzic said.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud noise from the engine and smelling petrol fumes.
One eyewitness said: 'We could also hear the cries of the doomed pilot as the fire surrounded him. It was terrible.'
Eyewitnesses said three passengers escaped the gondola of the blimp before the pilot ascended and crashed in a nearby field.
The journalists who escaped were a photographer from Germany's Bild newspaper and two from RTL television.
The crash happened at 8.30pm on Sunday after the airship had made a round trip for the pressmen to take photos of the state of Hessen.
A spokesman of Lightship Europe Limited, which owned the airship, said: 'One member of the flight crew suffered fatal injuries. There were no injuries to passengers or ground crew.
'As is customary in incidents involving aircraft, the aviation and local authorities have initiated an investigation and it would be premature for Goodyear or Lightship Europe Limited to speculate on causes and findings at this time," the statement said.'
Germany led the world in airship technology in the first half of the last century. Its most famous airship was the Zeppelin - named after Count von Zeppelin who began experimenting with rigid airship designs in the 1890s.
The Zeppelin was a rigid airship, meaning it has an internal structural framework, whereas blimps are non-rigid and there shape is maintained solely by internal air pressure.
One of the best-known Zeppelins was the Hindenburg which crossed the Atlantic to New Jersey on May 6 1937, but caught fire as it was trying to land, causing the deaths of 35 people.
The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, although a variety of hypotheses have been put forward.
The incident shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the end of that particular era of air travel.
The aircraft have made a comeback in Germany in recent years as tourist magnets.
* Investigators piecing together last moments of doomed flight
* Wife of Australian pilot pays tribute to 'hero' who stayed at controls
Investigators were today piecing together the last moments before a a Goodyear blimp burst into flames and plunged to earth in a weekend crash in Germany.
The pilot, Michael Nerandzic, 53, was killed but three passengers managed to jump to safety when the airship caught fire as it was coming in to land at the Reichelsheim aerodrome near Friedberg.
When the airship was just two metres from the floor, Mr Nerandzic told his passengers, all journalists, to jump to the ground while he tried to land safely.
But once the three had leapt clear, the sudden loss of weight caused the blimp to soar skywards and burst into flames before crashing to the earth in a chilling echo of the Hindenburg disaster.
A coffin is carried away from the accident site late on Sunday evening
The pilot managed to get near enough the ground for passengers to escape before climbing back up.The burning wreckage of the airship. The pilot was killed in the accident, but he managed to save his passengers.Pilot Mike Nerandzic, pictured in Goodyear Blimp 'Spirit of Safety I', died in the crash.Plunge: The Goodyear blimp falls to the ground after the incident in Friedberg, Germany on Sunday night
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear but an investigation was underway.
Klaus Himmler, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, said his office was interviewing witnesses of the accident, collecting evidence and analyzing photos. He said the investigation could take weeks.
Photographer Joachim Storch — who was aboard the helium-filled blimp — said he heard the pilot yell 'We had an accident'.
He said the pilot then shouted 'I crashed the airship' as the smell of fire crept through the blimp.
Storch and two other passengers jumped from a window. The sudden loss of weight caused the ship to shoot into the air, where it burst into flames, killing the pilot.
Mr Nerandzic's widow, Lyndy, says she was due to fly over to meet her husband in a few weeks.
She says he gave his life to save his passengers.
'When there was trouble on the airship he brought it down to as low as he could to let the passengers jump out and he stayed at the controls,' Mrs Nerandzic said.
'As soon as they jumped out of course, being an airship, he knew it would rise up and it did.
'They found him still at the controls when it crashed. He also steered it away from his ground crew.'
Mr Nerandzic's brother, Zorrin Nerandzic, says he was an experienced pilot and well respected in the industry.
'In the airship family he was up the top there as one of the most highly respected pilots you could get,' Mr Nerandzic said.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud noise from the engine and smelling petrol fumes.
One eyewitness said: 'We could also hear the cries of the doomed pilot as the fire surrounded him. It was terrible.'
Eyewitnesses said three passengers escaped the gondola of the blimp before the pilot ascended and crashed in a nearby field.
The journalists who escaped were a photographer from Germany's Bild newspaper and two from RTL television.
The crash happened at 8.30pm on Sunday after the airship had made a round trip for the pressmen to take photos of the state of Hessen.
A spokesman of Lightship Europe Limited, which owned the airship, said: 'One member of the flight crew suffered fatal injuries. There were no injuries to passengers or ground crew.
'As is customary in incidents involving aircraft, the aviation and local authorities have initiated an investigation and it would be premature for Goodyear or Lightship Europe Limited to speculate on causes and findings at this time," the statement said.'
Germany led the world in airship technology in the first half of the last century. Its most famous airship was the Zeppelin - named after Count von Zeppelin who began experimenting with rigid airship designs in the 1890s.
The Zeppelin was a rigid airship, meaning it has an internal structural framework, whereas blimps are non-rigid and there shape is maintained solely by internal air pressure.
One of the best-known Zeppelins was the Hindenburg which crossed the Atlantic to New Jersey on May 6 1937, but caught fire as it was trying to land, causing the deaths of 35 people.
The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, although a variety of hypotheses have been put forward.
The incident shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the end of that particular era of air travel.
The aircraft have made a comeback in Germany in recent years as tourist magnets.
The Hindenburg airship exploding into a huge ball of fire as it arrived Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The jail has seen staff cuts of up to 20 per cent in two years
Only two guards were on duty as balaclava-clad inmates caused at least £2million of damage by burning down buildings at an open jail yesterday.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Empty ferry ablaze in Baltic Sea after explosion
A 650-foot ferry was ablaze in the Baltic Sea on Saturday after an explosion on the upper deck, and firefighting ships were spraying the vessel with water to keep it from breaking apart and spilling some 170 tons of fuel, officials said.
There were 249 people aboard who were rescued by six ships that moved in to help after the explosion on the Lisco Gloria around midnight. Three were taken to hospitals by helicopter and another 26 were slightly injured, police said.
German officials and the ferry said the blast appeared to have been a technical mishap.
A firefighting vessel tries to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued.
"The investigation is ongoing, but all indications so far suggest that the cause was a technical problem," Schleswig-Holstein state police spokesman Stefan Jung told The Associated Press.
TV footage showed a fire on the top deck, while the decks below appeared to be gutted by the fire.
"People were lucky because it all happened on a major shipping route, that's why the other vessels were quickly on hand to rescue people," said Ulrike Windhoevel, the spokeswoman for Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies in Cuxhaven.
Authorities allowed the blaze aboard the ship to burn because "there's a possibility it could capsize if we continue," a Danish navy duty commander told the AP. No oil had spilled, he said.
"At the moment there are four ships at the scene, with more on their way. Their primary purpose is an environmental protection service. If there is an oil spill we can cordon off the scene," said the duty commander, who declined to be named in line with Danish military policy.
Windhoevel said firefighters were still spraying water on the ship's exterior to cool it down.
"But the firefighters cannot put out the blaze on the ship, because at some point it would sink because of all the water in it," she said.
The Lithuanian-flagged ferry was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania, authorities said.
Passengers and crew were evacuated by lifeboat and taken by another ferry to a naval base near Kiel, officials and the shipping company DFDS said. The passengers were mostly Lithuanians, DFDS spokesman Gert Jakobsen said.
Most of the passengers were taken to hotels for the night, but some drove themselves home, Windhoevel said.
Authorities said a four-person team was lowered to the ferry by helicopter and managed to anchor the vessel off the southern tip of the Danish island Langeland to keep it from drifting farther ashore.
A firefighting vessel, bottom, tries to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued
A firefighting vessel, top right, tries to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued
Firefighting vessels work to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued.
There were 249 people aboard who were rescued by six ships that moved in to help after the explosion on the Lisco Gloria around midnight. Three were taken to hospitals by helicopter and another 26 were slightly injured, police said.
German officials and the ferry said the blast appeared to have been a technical mishap.
A firefighting vessel tries to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued.
"The investigation is ongoing, but all indications so far suggest that the cause was a technical problem," Schleswig-Holstein state police spokesman Stefan Jung told The Associated Press.
TV footage showed a fire on the top deck, while the decks below appeared to be gutted by the fire.
"People were lucky because it all happened on a major shipping route, that's why the other vessels were quickly on hand to rescue people," said Ulrike Windhoevel, the spokeswoman for Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies in Cuxhaven.
Authorities allowed the blaze aboard the ship to burn because "there's a possibility it could capsize if we continue," a Danish navy duty commander told the AP. No oil had spilled, he said.
"At the moment there are four ships at the scene, with more on their way. Their primary purpose is an environmental protection service. If there is an oil spill we can cordon off the scene," said the duty commander, who declined to be named in line with Danish military policy.
Windhoevel said firefighters were still spraying water on the ship's exterior to cool it down.
"But the firefighters cannot put out the blaze on the ship, because at some point it would sink because of all the water in it," she said.
The Lithuanian-flagged ferry was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania, authorities said.
Passengers and crew were evacuated by lifeboat and taken by another ferry to a naval base near Kiel, officials and the shipping company DFDS said. The passengers were mostly Lithuanians, DFDS spokesman Gert Jakobsen said.
Most of the passengers were taken to hotels for the night, but some drove themselves home, Windhoevel said.
Authorities said a four-person team was lowered to the ferry by helicopter and managed to anchor the vessel off the southern tip of the Danish island Langeland to keep it from drifting farther ashore.
A firefighting vessel, bottom, tries to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued
A firefighting vessel, top right, tries to extinguish a fire on the car ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic Sea, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. The maritime emergencies center in Cuxhaven said that an explosion apparently occurred on the Lisco Gloria at about midnight. The Lithuanian-flagged ferry had more than 200 people on board and was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania. German authorities said that all passengers and crew members have been rescued
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Homes empty as crews seek missing after CA blast
Homes empty as crews seek missing after CA blast
The scorched shells of suburban San Francisco homes sat empty Saturday as hundreds of people waited for investigators to let them return to the scene of a deadly gas line explosion and fire.
Two people are unaccounted for, in addition to the four dead, authorities said Saturday. Homes crumbled under a layer of white ash as crews tried to restore basic services such as water to those still standing and make sure there was no further danger from the ruptured pipe.
"We want to make sure that the gas lines are safe," San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said.
Some residents were allowed back into a limited area to retrieve belongings, but Ruane said he doubts any will be able to return permanently Saturday.
A group of local, state and federal officials toured the damaged area and described a ghost-town full of remnants of cars melted in driveways and pieces of houses, some left with just the chimney standing. Nearly 40 homes were destroyed and seven severely damaged, while dozens of other homes suffered less severe damage in the fire that sped across 15 acres.
At least 50 people, some critically, and crews keep searching the wreckage for signs that anyone else was caught in the blaze.
Emergency workers walk through an area of burned homes in San Bruno, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. On Thursday, a gas line rupture caused a large explosion that killed at least four people and leveled dozens of homes.
An emergency worker walks through an area of burned homes in San Bruno, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. On Thursday, a gas line rupture caused a large explosion that killed at least four people and leveled dozens of homes.
"It's really hard to put into words the way you feel when you see a beautiful neighborhood and a whole section of it that just almost disappeared, and remnants of the cars melted in the driveways," said Calif. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who was at the scene.
Officials were still trying to determine what led up to the blast. They took measurements of the blown out section of the steel gas pipe, and may send them to Washington, D.C., where examination under a microscope could help pinpoint what caused it to fracture, said Christopher Hart, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, who was at the scene.
He said federal investigators will analyze the pipeline's condition, along with its maintenance history, pressure levels and the safeguards put in place to prevent pressure from building up. Hart said the NTSB will also look at the training and experience of the people who operated the pipeline and screen them for alcohol and drugs.
"The magnitude of the damage is just appalling," Hart said.
The utility is about two-thirds of the way through a review of phone records to check for complaints about gas in the area, said PG&E President Chris Johns. Residents have said they alerted PG&E of gas odors in the neighborhood before the disaster.
The utility said none of its crews was at work on the line Thursday.
Transmission lines like the one that burst in San Bruno deliver natural gas from its source to distribution lines, which then carry it into neighborhoods before branching off into homes.
Over the past two decades, federal officials tallied 2,840 significant gas pipeline accidents nationwide — including 992 in which someone was killed or required hospitalization, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Those accidents killed 323 people and injured 1,372.
One person who died in the explosion hasn't yet been identified. The others are Jacquelin Greig, 44, her daughter Janessa, 13, and Jessica Morales, 20.
Greig lived in a house just yards from the source of the blast. In her job with the California Public Utilities Commission, she worked to protect consumers from soaring monthly gas bills or dangerous pipeline expansions, co-workers said.
"This is so difficult for us because we're such a small group," said her co-worker Pearlie Sabino. "She does a lot of cases related to natural gas, that's the irony of it."
Bob Vasquez, a volunteer and evacuee, helps with donation boxes at an evacuation center in San Bruno, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. Fire crews doused the remnants of an enormous blaze and accounted for the residents of dozens of homes Friday after a gas line ruptured and an explosion ripped through in a neighborhood near San Francisco, killing at least four people.
Evacuee Les Vaccari, 78, waits for news about his home outside the evacuation center in San Bruno, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010.
Alan Doulphus, right, a city worker, wheels out boxes of donated clothes at an evacuation center in San Bruno, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. Fire crews doused the remnants of an enormous blaze and accounted for the residents of dozens of homes Friday after a gas line ruptured and an explosion ripped through in a neighborhood near San Francisco, killing at least four people.
50 buildings destroyed after gas explosion tears through San Francisco suburb
Investigators in San Francisco are today trying to determine the cause of the devastating blast that claimed the life of six people and injured 50 more after a natural gas pipeline exploded.
More than 50 buildings were razed to the ground after the massive explosion triggered intense fires which tore through the San Bruno suburb.
Around 39 people were injured by the blast and flames were visible several miles away from San Francisco International Airport.
San Bruno Fire Captain Charlie Barringer told the L.A. Times: 'I thought a 747 had landed on us. It shook our station right to its foundation.'
Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, serving as acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Asia, declared a state of emergency in the Crestmoor district and said the blaze was 75% contained.
'We don't know what caused [the rupture], we will find out soon,' Maldonado said in a news conference near the scene.
Fireball plumes from rises from a San Francisco surburb after a gas explosion killed one person injured 25 people.
Just charred blackened trunks of trees give indication of the forestation once stood.
Remnants of charred chimney stacks are all reminded of homes in the streets in San Bruno.
'There's a lot of devastation in homes, obviously vehicles. The streets are just gone, and all you see are fireplaces standing straight up. It's a horrible tragedy for the people of San Bruno.
Rick Bruce, 54, a retired police officer who has lived in the neighbourhood since 1980 said the destruction looked like a war zone.
'People want to see if their houses burned down. I was lucky to get in last night. Most people had to leave within 45 minutes, so they saw the flames but didn't know whether their house burned. The fire looked like London during the Blitz.'
In minutes after the explosion, he talked to 911 dispatchers who said they were still trying to find the site.
'At 20 minutes, there was no fire, no police. I was furious. I said, 'There's nothing! We're standing in the street looking at the biggest fire I've ever seen in my life and there's no one here.'
San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said, 'The sun is shining over there, but there's still a dark cloud over this city'.
Brothers Bob and Ed Pellegrini, whose homes were near the centre of the explosion told The Oakland Tribune that they thought an earthquake had struck until they looked out of their window.
'It looked like hell on earth. I have never seen a ball of fire that huge.' Bob Pellegrini said.
His brother Ed shared their grief, 'The house is gone. I have nothing. Everything is gone. We're homeless.'
The initial explosion was heard from miles away and shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet into the air. Flames reached as high as 100 feet as the fire fueled itself on burning homes.
Kelly Huston, an assistant secretary with the California Emergency Management Agency, told KTLA TV: 'We have confirmed that there are 53 structures, those are mostly homes, that were lost, about 120 damaged.' The injured people have been taken to hospitals with special burn treatment units.
Most of the burned buildings were homes in a densely populated residential area, officials said.
The gas line belongs to the northern California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
A statement from the company said: 'Though a cause has yet to be determined, we know that a PG&E transmission line was ruptured.
'If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of the incident, we will take accountability.'
Resident 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.
'I don't know where my father is, I don't know where my husband is, I don't know where to go,' she said.
Judy and Frank Serrsseque managed to escape the flames with a makeshift wagon carrying important documents, medication and their three cats.
Mrs Serrsseque said she heard the blast and saw the flames were being blown towards their home.
'We got everything together, and we just got out. Mostly we're wondering if we have a house to go back to.'
Sergio Campos, 21, said he was on his way to class at Skyline College when he saw the fire and pulled over. Even from a distance, the blaze 'sounded like a big, ongoing roar,' he said.
'A lot of us were confused because we didn't know if it was a natural explosion or an airplane crash,' he told CNN.
The explosion of the high-pressure gas line occurred during rush hour at around 6pm local time.
Water-dropping aircraft have assisted up to 200 firefighters in tackling the blaze, which was spread quickly through high winds.
Broken water lines have hampered the effort after the explosion destroyed hydrants near the blast scene.
Dennis Haag, chief of San Bruno Fire Department, said: 'The fire is being contained at this point... it is around 50 per cent contained.'
Television footage showed a massive fireball and flames shooting skywards.
People living in the area said they thought the loud boom caused by the blast was the result of an earthquake or a plane crash.
Around 100 people have spent the night at an evacuation centre.
California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, serving as acting governor while Arnold Schwarzenegger is on a trade mission to Asia, has declared a state of emergency to free up state assistance for local government.
Homes totally destroyed in the gas explossion cause by underground gas pipe ruptured.
Only chimneys reminded after the huge fireballs and fire engulfed the homes in streets of San Bruno
Gaping hole, fire investigator search a massive hole at the centre of the gas pipe rupture that flattened a surburb in San Bruno.Charred building reminds nearby,
53 buildings destroyed by the explosion or scores of fires triggered by the burning debries.
All nighter as fire fighters tackle the fire all night.
Firefighter so far managed to contain 50 per cent of the fire.
Police officer retreat from very hot flames casuse by underground gas explosions.
More than 50 buildings were razed to the ground after the massive explosion triggered intense fires which tore through the San Bruno suburb.
Around 39 people were injured by the blast and flames were visible several miles away from San Francisco International Airport.
San Bruno Fire Captain Charlie Barringer told the L.A. Times: 'I thought a 747 had landed on us. It shook our station right to its foundation.'
Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, serving as acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Asia, declared a state of emergency in the Crestmoor district and said the blaze was 75% contained.
'We don't know what caused [the rupture], we will find out soon,' Maldonado said in a news conference near the scene.
Fireball plumes from rises from a San Francisco surburb after a gas explosion killed one person injured 25 people.
Just charred blackened trunks of trees give indication of the forestation once stood.
Remnants of charred chimney stacks are all reminded of homes in the streets in San Bruno.
Torched: It is unclear what caused the explosion, but Pacific Gas & Electric Co said one of its pipes was ruptured
'There's a lot of devastation in homes, obviously vehicles. The streets are just gone, and all you see are fireplaces standing straight up. It's a horrible tragedy for the people of San Bruno.
Rick Bruce, 54, a retired police officer who has lived in the neighbourhood since 1980 said the destruction looked like a war zone.
'People want to see if their houses burned down. I was lucky to get in last night. Most people had to leave within 45 minutes, so they saw the flames but didn't know whether their house burned. The fire looked like London during the Blitz.'
In minutes after the explosion, he talked to 911 dispatchers who said they were still trying to find the site.
'At 20 minutes, there was no fire, no police. I was furious. I said, 'There's nothing! We're standing in the street looking at the biggest fire I've ever seen in my life and there's no one here.'
San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said, 'The sun is shining over there, but there's still a dark cloud over this city'.
Brothers Bob and Ed Pellegrini, whose homes were near the centre of the explosion told The Oakland Tribune that they thought an earthquake had struck until they looked out of their window.
'It looked like hell on earth. I have never seen a ball of fire that huge.' Bob Pellegrini said.
His brother Ed shared their grief, 'The house is gone. I have nothing. Everything is gone. We're homeless.'
The initial explosion was heard from miles away and shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet into the air. Flames reached as high as 100 feet as the fire fueled itself on burning homes.
Kelly Huston, an assistant secretary with the California Emergency Management Agency, told KTLA TV: 'We have confirmed that there are 53 structures, those are mostly homes, that were lost, about 120 damaged.' The injured people have been taken to hospitals with special burn treatment units.
Most of the burned buildings were homes in a densely populated residential area, officials said.
The gas line belongs to the northern California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
A statement from the company said: 'Though a cause has yet to be determined, we know that a PG&E transmission line was ruptured.
'If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of the incident, we will take accountability.'
Resident 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.
'I don't know where my father is, I don't know where my husband is, I don't know where to go,' she said.
Judy and Frank Serrsseque managed to escape the flames with a makeshift wagon carrying important documents, medication and their three cats.
Mrs Serrsseque said she heard the blast and saw the flames were being blown towards their home.
'We got everything together, and we just got out. Mostly we're wondering if we have a house to go back to.'
Sergio Campos, 21, said he was on his way to class at Skyline College when he saw the fire and pulled over. Even from a distance, the blaze 'sounded like a big, ongoing roar,' he said.
'A lot of us were confused because we didn't know if it was a natural explosion or an airplane crash,' he told CNN.
The explosion of the high-pressure gas line occurred during rush hour at around 6pm local time.
Water-dropping aircraft have assisted up to 200 firefighters in tackling the blaze, which was spread quickly through high winds.
Broken water lines have hampered the effort after the explosion destroyed hydrants near the blast scene.
Dennis Haag, chief of San Bruno Fire Department, said: 'The fire is being contained at this point... it is around 50 per cent contained.'
Television footage showed a massive fireball and flames shooting skywards.
People living in the area said they thought the loud boom caused by the blast was the result of an earthquake or a plane crash.
Around 100 people have spent the night at an evacuation centre.
California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, serving as acting governor while Arnold Schwarzenegger is on a trade mission to Asia, has declared a state of emergency to free up state assistance for local government.
Homes totally destroyed in the gas explossion cause by underground gas pipe ruptured.
Only chimneys reminded after the huge fireballs and fire engulfed the homes in streets of San Bruno
Gaping hole, fire investigator search a massive hole at the centre of the gas pipe rupture that flattened a surburb in San Bruno.Charred building reminds nearby,
53 buildings destroyed by the explosion or scores of fires triggered by the burning debries.
All nighter as fire fighters tackle the fire all night.
Firefighter so far managed to contain 50 per cent of the fire.
Police officer retreat from very hot flames casuse by underground gas explosions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
