Residents near Sunset District home explosion meet with city, hope to move forward
SAN FRANCISCO – Residents impacted by last week's home explosion on 22nd Avenue in San Francisco's Sunset District were able to meet with city department leaders Wednesday night.
Supervisor Joel Engardino organized the community meeting to provide resources for those whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the blast.
One of the families that attended were David and Nang Garth. They lived right next door to the home that exploded, and say their home was destroyed in the explosion.
David Garth was only able to salvage a handful of items from the home he and his family lived in for almost a decade. Most of the items were in a back bedroom that didn't burn in the aftermath of Thursday morning's blast.
"It's a total loss. Everything is damaged, everything completely gone," said his wife Nang, as she tried unsuccessfully to hold back the tears.
Nang said their 6-year-old daughter's bedroom was on the side of the house closest to the explosion, and now, almost everything inside is unrecognizable.
"Normally I would have been home at that time, but that day things played out differently and thank goodness we weren't there," David told KPIX.
The explosion killed 51-year-old Rita Price. Her husband, Darron Price has been charged in connection with the explosion.
Price made his first court appearance Wednesday, but his arraignment was rescheduled for Friday after his public defender asked for more time to review the case. Authorities said Price is facing nine felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, a drug manufacturing charge and four counts of reckless burning.
David's relief turns to frustration as he talks about his former neighbor.
"I'm angry at Darron for killing his wife and endangering everyone else and destroying our home and the other neighbor's home over there," said David.
Almost a dozen houses were damaged in some way by the blast, which is why Engardio organized the closed door meeting for impacted residents.
"We just want to bring all the department heads together to talk to the residents and offer information and potential resources," said Engardino.
David and his wife are hoping there's more the city can do to help. He said they don't have renter's insurance, and their only safety net right now is an online fundraising campaign.
"Most of what survived was clothing that was in the back bedroom, we've been told not to use because it may be contaminated with asbestos or lead from the old house and also from next door and also the chemicals that Darren was playing with," he said.
Residents who attended the meeting said they were grateful to get more information from the department heads, but were also frustrated there isn't more financial help available.
Engardino said this will likely be a private property matter and there isn't much the city can do in terms of monetary relief. The supervisor said he has been in touch with the City Assessor's office to discuss reducing property tax bills.