WASHINGTON — A three-day National Transportation Safety Board hearing that is expected to uncover more details about the deadly San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion and fire will begin in Washington D.C. Tuesday morning.
The NTSB is calling on witnesses from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the operator of the pipeline, the city of San Bruno, and the pipeline’s regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission, to testify before the panel to seek additional information for the federal investigation into what caused the massive explosion.
SAN BRUNO — The president of Pacific Gas and Electric Company pledged that a section of natural gas pipeline that exploded and destroyed a hilly San Bruno subdivision would be removed, according to a company letter delivered to the San Bruno Mayor’s office Wednesday afternoon.
PG&E Co. President Chris Johns wrote that the utility company would “identify an alternative route” to bypass the damaged section of the major natural gas transmission line that ran under the neighborhood.
(9/22) — 17:16 PDT — SAN BRUNO — The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office positively identified the remains of three people discovered in a San Bruno home that was consumed by flames in a fiery Sept. 9 natural gas line eruption, raising the death toll in the explosion to 7.
The Coroner’s office said Gregory Bullis, 50, his mother, Lavonne Bullis, 82; and his son, William Bullis, 17 perished at their home at 1690 Claremont Drive when an underground Pacific Gas and Electric Co. gas line exploded and a firestorm tore through their hilly subdivision.
On Monday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. released a highly-anticipated list of their top 100 riskiest natural gas pipelines that were categorized by the utility company as parts of their grid that needed repair.
The utility company initially rejected calls to make the list public, citing national security concerns, but after scrutiny by several watchdog agencies and under pressure from the California Public Utilities Commission — the state governing body overseeing PG&E — the company changed course and published the list online.
Some residents of the neighborhood damaged by a massive natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno Thursday were allowed to return to their homes Sunday.
Three groups of residents who arrived at Skyline College and presented identification were escorted to their homes beginning at noon.
(9/10) — SAN BRUNO — UPDATED 23:15 PDT — About 600 people crowded into St. Robert’s Church in San Bruno Saturday afternoon for a two-hour question-and-answer session with officials in the aftermath of Thursday evening’s tragic gas explosion which left seven people dead and destroyed dozens of homes.
City leaders said to enormous applause that most residents whose homes were affected by the inferno will be allowed to return at noon Sunday.
(9/11) — 21:24 PDT — SAN BRUNO — Cadaver dogs discovered the remains of three more victims of the deadly natural gas pipeline explosion and fire in a hillside Peninsula neighborhood Saturday, raising the death toll from the incident to 7, the police chief for the city of San Bruno said.
Six people were still missing, Chief Neil Telford told reporters at a press briefing Saturday evening.
(9/10) — 22:50 PDT — SAN BRUNO — Three of the four victims who were killed by a large natural gas explosion and six-alarm fire in a quiet San Bruno neighborhood Thursday evening were identified by the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office Friday.
Killed in the fiery blast were San Bruno residents Jessica Morales, 20, Jacqueline Greig, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa Greig, a coroner’s official told the Beat.
An interactive map of homes destroyed or damaged as a result of a PG&E gas pipeline rupture the evening of September 9. Data on affected homes courtesy of the City of San Bruno, updated as of September 10. 37 homes were destroyed and an additional eight were damaged as a result of the massive explosion.
(9/10) — UPDATED 22:21 PDT — SAN BRUNO — In the aftermath of a natural gas pipeline explosion that rocked a San Bruno neighborhood Thursday evening, emergency crews continue to assess the damage and search for victims in the rubble.
The official death toll stands at four. The San Mateo County coroner has confirmed Jessica Morales, 20, Jacqueline Greig, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa are among the deceased. Officials could not yet confirm reports of the identity of the fourth victim, believed to be an elderly woman in her eighties.
Fire Chief Dennis Haag has said the search effort is 75 percent complete, with some areas still being too hot to safely enter. Canine searches for victims will continue on Saturday.
