A doorbell camera captured a house exploding in Northern California after a construction crew apparently damaged a gas line, with the explosion injuring six people and sparking a three-alarm fire.
“Our neighbor’s house exploded,” we hear a shocked resident say.
The Alameda County Fire Department reported that 75 firefighters responded to the resulting fire, which razed three buildings and damaged some adjacent homes.
“It was scary,” Christian Maldanado, the neighbor who shared the video from his home camera, told KTVU. “It was like a Hollywood scene. It was unreal.”
Six people were transported to local hospitals, according to the department. Pacific Gas & Electric told KTVU that three of the company’s workers were among the injured. The other three people injured were residents of the home that exploded and are being treated for third-degree burns, according to a family member.
The explosion occurred Thursday in Ashland, near the East Bay town of Hayward, about 15 miles south of Oakland.
According to Fox News:
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was alerted around 7:35 a.m. that a construction crew — not part of the utility — had damaged an underground gas line. Utility workers arrived to isolate the damaged pipe, but gas was leaking from various locations. Workers stopped the gas flow at 9:25 a.m. and the explosion followed shortly after.
Alameda County Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Nishimoto told media that three structures on two separate lots were severely damaged.
Some firefighters who arrived at the scene had to back away initially when they felt electrical shocks coming from collapsed power lines at the site.
“All the windows in my house were opened,” a local resident, identified only as Deborah, told KTVU. “There are cracks in the ceiling. My house is destroyed.”
The exact cause of the explosion is under investigation.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the bestselling author of Below the line and nine other mystery novels and non-fiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com to find out more.
