INFERNO IN SAN BRUNO One dead, 23 injured, over 50 homes leveled by massive fire fed by winds September 10, 2010
Residential area in San Bruno, CA being consumed by flames from an explosion caused by a natural gas line break. CLICK TO ENLARGE
(SAN BRUNO, CA) -- Many residents who were there when the explosion was heard and then seconds later saw blaze orange fill the sky the and felt intense heat roll through the neighborhood described the scene with the same words: inferno.
A huge explosion – now thought to have been caused by a gas line break – erupted into walls of towering flames Thursday night that engulfed and then consumed a San Bruno, California neighborhood that lies not far from the San Francisco International airport.
At last report the fire had killed one person, injured 23 people, leveled some 53 homes and forced many residents to run for their lives.
San Bruno officials said the explosion happened near or in a local park and a huge crater was left in the street at ground zero of the blast.
Many residents initially thought the sound of the blast was an earthquake getting underway.
The blast occurred shortly after 6 p.m. in the city of 41,000 and ignited a wind-driven sea of flames that in a short period of time destroyed or damaged more than 170 homes, set numerous treetops on fire and lit up the sky for miles around the fire zone.
CLICK PLAY BUTTON BELOW TO SEE A LOCAL RESIDENT’S VIDEO OF THE FIRE AS IT SWEPT THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The flames – which burned across some 10 acres - were fed by winds in the area that reached more than 30 mph.
The fire was reported 50% contained late Thursday night.
