FRESNO, Calif. -- A large gas pipeline exploded into a wall of fire Friday in central California, closing both directions of a major highway in the region and injuring at least 11 people, three of them critically, authorities said.
Four patients were being treated at Community Regional Medical Center's burn and trauma unit, spokesman Mary Lisa Russell said.
Three of them were in critical condition and one was in serious condition, she said.
Four other patients were taken to St. Agnes Hospital and three to Madera Community Hospital, Fresno County Medical Services director Dan Lynch said.
Authorities initially said 15 people were hurt. No explanation was given for the discrepancy.
Traffic heading north and south on California 99 in Fresno was halted by the explosion about 2:30 p.m. Pacific time as flames towered over the roadway, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The highway was reopened about three hours later, the California Highway Patrol said.
The explosion happened at the Fresno County sheriff's gun range, where a work crew, including county jail inmates, using heavy equipment apparently hit a pipe carrying natural gas, said Tony Botti, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.
One of the workers appeared to be in critical condition, he said.
No law enforcement officers were hurt, Botti said.
Sheriff Margaret Mims said county workers and inmate crews typically work at the shooting range building berms and doing basic maintenance.
Four inmate workers were among the injured, she said.
Witnesses reported seeing a large fireball, said Pete Martinez of the Fresno Fire Department. Some witnesses said flames were shooting 100 feet into the air.
"It was a large explosion that shook the surrounding area," he said.
Edna Epps was on her way to pick up her grandson, Trevor Jobinger, from school when she got caught in traffic.
She said she got a call from 11-year-old Trevor, who was supposed to have a baseball game Friday night. The game at River Bluff Elementary was canceled after the fire started, she said.
Trevor told her he was practicing outside when "all of a sudden there was fire falling down around him."
The 12-inch diameter pipeline involved in the fire belongs to the Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Martinez said. A front loader was in the area, but it was unclear whether the vehicle was digging at the time of the explosion. The operator, who worked for a construction company and not the utility, was flown by helicopter to a hospital in serious condition, Martinez said.
Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Denny Boyles also said the pipeline was damaged by a vehicle and that the line was buried, but he didn't know how deeply.
The flame from the pipe was extinguished about 90 minutes after the blast, he said.
Fresno Fire Chief Kerri Donis said Pacific Gas & Electric was able to turn down the gas flow after the explosion, but a small amount was still flowing Friday evening.
A nearby rail line was halted out of concern that a passing train could spark leaking gas.
Another utility spokesman, Keith Stephens, referred questions to local authorities.
Stephens said he could not comment on whether the pipeline involved belonged to Pacific Gas & Electric or whether anyone with the utility had been at the scene.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are reported to be injured. We do not have definitive information" on the situation, he said.
Pacific Gas & Electric's natural-gas operations have been under intensifying scrutiny since a fiery 2010 pipeline blast that killed eight people in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators blamed faulty safety practices by the utility and lax oversight by state regulators for the 2010 blast.
Earlier this month, state regulators leveled the state's biggest-ever penalty against a utility -- $1.6 billion -- against Pacific Gas & Electric for the San Bruno blast.
California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker said at the time that continuing safety citations against the utility made him doubt that the utility had embraced a culture of safety, and he raised the possibility of breaking apart the utility's gas and electric operations.
Information for this article was contributed by Scott Smith of The Associated Press and by staff members of The Fresno Bee.
A Section on 04/18/2015
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1DikAfe
0 comments:
Post a Comment