San Bruno Residents Return Home After Pipeline Explosion
SAN BRUNO (CBS 5 / AP) - Residents returned Sunday to the ruined hillsides of their San Bruno neighborhood, three days after a natural gas pipeline exploded into a deadly fireball.
A nearby risky segment of the gas line was due to be replaced, the utility responsible said, because it ran through a heavily urbanized area and the likelihood of failure was "unacceptably high." That 30-inch diameter pipe a few miles north was installed in 1948, and was slated to be swapped for new, smaller pipe.
California regulators ordered the utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, to survey all its natural gas lines in the state in hopes of heading off another disaster.
Investigators still don't know what caused Thursday night's blast, and even as dozens of people returned to their scorched homes — accompanied by gas workers to help restore pilot lights and make sure it is safe to turn power back on — officials tried to confirm just how many people died.
The remains of at least four people have been found, and authorities have said four are missing and at least 60 injured, some critically. Two people reported missing after blast were located Sunday, city spokeswoman Robyn Thaw said.
San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said they're still trying to confirm whether some of the remains they found are human and identify victims.
Streets were crowded Sunday with PG&E cars and trucks, and representatives were handing out gift certificates for grocery stores. Nearly 50 homes were destroyed and seven severely damaged in the blast, while dozens of other homes suffered less severe damage in the fire that sped across 15 acres.
Returning residents were wearing wristbands that show police they live in the area.
Pat and Roger Haro and their dog, Rosie, have been living in a hotel room since Thursday after fleeing their home with the clothes they were wearing, dog food, water and an iPad.
When they returned, their home was marked with a green tag — indicating less damage than others with yellow or red tags — and their electricity was still off.
"Once I saw the house was still there then I felt a whole lot better," Pat Haro said. "I think we'll be a tighter community."
Patrick Yu said he's had nightmares and headaches since the fireball caused his ceiling to crash next to him on the bed while he slept.
Yu crouched in the doorway after the blast, thinking he was in the middle of an earthquake. When the shaking subsided, he found that the heat had warped the door so much he had to pull with all his strength to get out of the bedroom.
On Sunday morning, the 62-year-old learned his house had been red-tagged, meaning it has extensive damage and will require closer inspection before authorities can declare it safe.
"I have lots of memories in that house," Yu said. "Lots of stuff you can't replace."
A few blocks away, houses have collapsed into black and white debris on ground, with a smell like charcoal in the air. All that remain standing is a row of brick chimneys, while across the street, some homes are undamaged.
Meanwhile, local and federal officials are probing the cause of the explosion that blew a segment of pipe 28 feet long onto the street some 100 feet away, creating a crater 167 feet long and 26 feet wide.
PG&E submitted paperwork to regulators for ongoing gas rate proceedings that said a section of the same gas line about two and a half miles away was within "the top 100 highest risk line sections" in the utility's service territory, the documents show.
The company also considered the portion that ruptured to be a "high consequence area" requiring more stringent inspections called integrity assessments, federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration spokeswoman Julia Valentine said.
Nationwide, only about 7 percent of gas lines have that classification, she said.
PG&E spokesman Andrew Souvall said the company had planned to replace the piece of the gas line mentioned in the documents with 24-inch pipe as a part of its broader proposal to upgrade infrastructure that the commission began considering last year.
Souvall said Sunday that no one complained to the utility's call centers of smelling gas in the San Bruno neighborhood in the week leading up to the blast.
He said the ruptured section, which was installed in 1956, was last checked for leaks in March. The company said later Sunday no leaks were found.
The segment farther north was checked for leaks on Friday and none were found, Souvall added.
"We take action on a daily basis to repair our equipment as needed," he said. "PG&E takes a proactive approach toward the maintenance of our gas lines and we're constantly monitoring our system."
In ordering the company to conduct the leak survey on its natural gas lines, the state's Public Utilities Commission said Sunday that PG&E must give priority to higher pressure pipelines, as well as to lines in areas of high population density.
The order comes after Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, the state's acting governor, asked the commission to order the utility company to conduct an integrity assessment of its natural gas pipeline system.
The commission also plans to appoint an independent expert panel to help with their investigation.
An inspection of the severed pipe chunk in San Bruno revealed that it was made of several smaller sections that had been welded together and that a seam ran its length, but a federal safety official said that did not necessarily indicate the pipe had been repaired.
Asked whether a welded pipe was more susceptible to leaks or corrosion, National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Christopher Hart said: "Maybe, and maybe not."
At a church service at St. Robert's Catholic Church on Sunday morning, the Rev. Vincent Ring conducted a prayer for the people who died, as well as a prayer for the victims who have not been identified.
"We turn to God and we ask for mercy upon all our brothers who are hurting so badly, whose lives have changed so drastically and whose help is so badly need from us," Ring said.
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