SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A gas explosion set off a major fire in a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood on Thursday after obliterating at least one home, blowing out windows and shaking nearby homes. Six people were taken to hospitals for injuries, fire officials said.
Dramatic video footage showed a home in the city of Hayward sitting under a blue sky when it suddenly exploded, spewing jagged wood and other debris into the air as heavy smoke billowed.
“We were sitting in the house and it just … everything shook. Stuff fell off the walls and when we looked at the camera it was like you were watching a war video,” said Brittany Maldonado, who lives across the street from the home that exploded and provided the Nest doorbell cam footage to ABC7 News.
Fire officials said they did not know if those injured were workers or residents, nor did they know the extent of their injuries. They said two homes were affected the most, along with another building.
The neighborhood of single-level homes with tidy small lawns and some businesses near two freeways had been undergoing construction work for wider sidewalks and bike lanes.
Hayward, home to about 160,000 residents, is in the East Bay, 15 miles (24 km) south of Oakland.
A spokesperson with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said a construction crew damaged an underground gas line around 7:35 a.m. The company said it was not their workers.
Utility workers isolated the damaged line and stopped the flow of gas at 9:25 a.m., PG&E said. The explosion occurred shortly afterward.
The doorbell video showed a large excavator being used to dig in front of the home that exploded as a worker stood nearby.
Within moments, a massive explosion and flames blew out the walls and the roof of the home. People nearby appeared to be dazed for a few seconds, before running toward the home to search for any victims. Several workers lifted a large piece of debris from where it landed near the excavator.
Sirens could be heard in the distance as police arrived at the scene, while flames began to spread at the site of the demolished building.
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Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.
