2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion
Encyclopedia
The 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion occurred at 6:11 p.m. PDT
on September 9, 2010, in San Bruno, California
, a suburb of San Francisco, when a 30 inch diameter steel natural gas pipeline owned by Pacific Gas & Electric exploded in flames in the Crestmoor residential neighborhood 2 mi (3.2 km) west of San Francisco International Airport
near Skyline Boulevard
and San Bruno Avenue.
The loud roar and shaking led some residents of the area, first responders, and news media to initially believe that it was an earthquake or that a large jetliner had crashed. It took crews nearly an hour to determine it was a gas pipeline explosion.
As of September 29, 2010, the death toll was eight people. The U.S. Geological Survey
registered the explosion and resulting shock wave
as a magnitude 1.1 earthquake. Eye witnesses reported the initial blast "had a wall of fire more than 1,000 feet high".
that resulted from the explosions. The explosion excavated an asymmetric crater
167 feet (50.9 m) long, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 40 feet (12.2 m) deep along the sidewalk of Glenview Drive in front of 1701 Earl Avenue (a corner house), but many of the destroyed homes were eastward in the 1600 block of Claremont Drive.
The fire continued to burn for several hours after the initial explosion. The explosion compromised a water main and necessitated that firefighters truck in water from outside sources. Firefighters were assisted by residents who dragged fire hoses nearly 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) to working hydrants. Ordinary citizens drove injured people and burn victims to the hospital. Mutual aid responded from all over the Bay Area, including the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
who sent 25 fire engines, 4 airtankers, 2 air attack planes, and 1 helicopter.
The fire was only fifty percent contained by 10 p.m. PDT and continued to burn until about 11:40 a.m. PDT the next day. As of September 29, 2010, the death toll was eight people. Among the eight deaths was 20 year old, Jessica Morales, who was with her boyfriend, Joseph Ruigomez, at the epicenter of the fire (his home) on the corner of Earl Ave. Another two people at the Claremont address close to the explosion were among those killed: Jacqueline Greig, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa Greig. Greig worked for the California Public Utilities Commission
, in a small unit that advocates for consumer rights pertaining to natural gas regulations. She had spent part of the summer evaluating PG&E's expansion plans and investment proposals to replace out-of-date pipelines. Also killed in the blast were Lavonne Bullis, 82, Greg Bullis, 50, and Will Bullis, 17.
issued an emergency appeal for blood donations. Some people were evacuated to Tanforan
and Bayhill Shopping Centers. All elementary schools in the San Bruno Park Elementary School District
, as well as Parkside Junior High, were closed on September 10. However, Capuchino High School
remained open. Some residents who were evacuated from their homes were allowed to return to those undamaged on Sunday, September 12.
(PG&E) is the owner of the pipeline. On September 10, PG&E's president, Christopher Johns, said the company was not able to approach the source of the explosion to investigate the cause. An official press release issued by PG&E on September 10 reported the pipe was a 30 inches (76.2 cm) steel transmission line.
PG&E shares fell 8% on the Friday after the explosion reducing the company's market capital by $1.57 billion.
PG&E also reduced their operating pressures by 20% after investigations revealed the pipeline may have been improperly installed.
After the San Bruno pipeline failure, PG&E was required to re-evaluate how it determines the maximum operating pressure for some 1,800 miles of pipeline throughout its system. Specifically, the California Public Utilities Commission asked PG&E officials to show their lines had been tested or examined in a way that could prove the pipeline can withstand the current maximum operating pressure. At the 15 March 2011 deadline for this Report, PG&E was unable to provide documentation for details of some of its gas transmission pipelines.
In response to the disaster and a subsequent decision (D.11-06-017) by the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E unveiled a plan in August 2011 to modernize and enhance safety of its gas transmission operations over several years, including automation of over 200 valves, strength testing over 700 miles (1,126.5 km) of pipe, replacing 185 miles (297.7 km), and upgrading another 200 miles (321.9 km) or so to allow in-line inspection. The plan was divided into two phases. The first phase, scheduled to end in 2014, targeted pipeline segments in urban areas, those not built to modern standards, and those which had not been strength tested. Project funding of $769 million was the subject of a PG&E application (R.11-02-019) for a three-year increase in gas rates starting January 2012.
On November 6th, 2011, an explosion occurred near Woodville, California during strength testing of PG&E pipelines. The explosion caused a mudslide in the area, however no casualties were reported.
made a state of emergency declaration and signed an executive order to provide aid to victims.
State regulators ordered PG&E to survey all natural gas lines the company controls in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
later went through the area, after returning from a trade mission in Asia.
called the devastation "a very serious crisis" and was asking Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) to declare it a national disaster area.
and Google
dispatched their emergency response teams to provide emergency communications and enhanced mapping information at the request of responders at the scene. A number of unaffiliated technology volunteers were also requested to support these functions.
began an investigation into the cause of the explosion. During the days prior to the explosion, some residents reported smelling natural gas
in the area. A source within PG&E reported a break in natural gas line number 132 caused the explosion. The gas line is a large 30 inches (76.2 cm) steel pipe. National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Christopher Hart said at a briefing that the segment of pipe that blew out onto the street was 28 feet (8.5 m) long, the explosion sent that piece of pipe about 100 feet (30.5 m) and the blast created a crater 167 feet (50.9 m) long and 26 feet (7.9 m) wide. He said that an inspection of the severed pipe chunk revealed that it was made of several smaller sections that had been welded together and that a seam ran its length. The presence of the welds did not necessarily indicate the pipe had been repaired, he said. Newer pipelines are usually manufactured into the shape needed for these applications, rather than having multiple weaker welded sections that could potentially leak or break.
In January 2011, federal investigators reported that they found numerous defective welds in the pipeline. The thickness of the pipe varied, and some welds did not penetrate the pipes completely. As PG&E increased the pressure in the pipes to meet growing energy demand, the defective welds were further weakened until their failure. As the pipeline was installed in 1956, modern testing methods such as X-rays were not able to detect the problem.
The NTSB held a 3-day public hearing on March 1 through 3, 2011, to gather additional facts for the ongoing investigation of the pipeline rupture and explosion.
Parties to the public hearing included:
The NTSB also published call logs from the Milpitas PG&E gas terminal to a gas control center. An uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) replacement was started at the Milpitas terminal several hours before the San Bruno explosion.
It was revealed that PG&E had done pipeline replacement work on Line 132 along parts of the San Andreas Fault zone, near this area, to reduce the likelihood of the pipeline failing from an earthquake. However, the replacement was stopped short of the area that failed in 2010.
in over 70 separate lawsuits. Virtually all were filed in the local state court, the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo. On February 24, 2011, the court's presiding judge, Mark Forcum, approved a petition for "coordination" of the San Bruno cases as authorized by California Code of Civil Procedure Section 404. After Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye
approved the petition in her capacity as chair of the state Judicial Council
, all the cases were transferred to Judge Steven L. Dylina on March 4, 2011, and designated as Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding (JCCP) No. 4648, PG&E "San Bruno Fire" Cases.
As is typical in complex mass tort litigation, the court designated "liaison counsel" for the plaintiffs at a initial case management conference on May 26, 2011. On June 3, 2011, through such counsel, the plaintiffs filed a consolidated Master Complaint. Individual plaintiffs then filed "adoptions" of the allegations in the Master Complaint over the next three weeks. Lead plaintiffs' "liaison counsel" on the Master Complaint were Frank M. Pitre of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP and Jerry E. Nastari of Corey, Luzaich, Pliska, De Ghetaldi & Nastari, LLP.
On July 5, 2011, PG&E and PG&E Corp. filed their Answer to the Master Complaint, through their defense counsel, Kate Dyer of Clarence, Dyer & Cohen LLP, John J. Lyons of Latham & Watkins LLP
, and Gayle L. Gough of Sedgwick LLP. A week later, the San Francisco Chronicle
ran a front-page story attacking the defendants for invoking certain routine defenses in their answer, like state-of-the-art and comparative negligence
.
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
on September 9, 2010, in San Bruno, California
San Bruno, California
San Bruno is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 41,114 at the 2010 census.The city is adjacent to San Francisco International Airport and Golden Gate National Cemetery.-Geography:San Bruno is located at...
, a suburb of San Francisco, when a 30 inch diameter steel natural gas pipeline owned by Pacific Gas & Electric exploded in flames in the Crestmoor residential neighborhood 2 mi (3.2 km) west of San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
near Skyline Boulevard
California State Route 35
State Route 35 in the U.S. state of California, generally known as Skyline Boulevard, is a two-lane road running along the western ridge of Silicon Valley in California. It runs from Highway 17 to San Francisco at State Route 1. It provides scenic views of both the Santa Cruz Mountains, the...
and San Bruno Avenue.
The loud roar and shaking led some residents of the area, first responders, and news media to initially believe that it was an earthquake or that a large jetliner had crashed. It took crews nearly an hour to determine it was a gas pipeline explosion.
As of September 29, 2010, the death toll was eight people. The U.S. Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
registered the explosion and resulting shock wave
Shock wave
A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field...
as a magnitude 1.1 earthquake. Eye witnesses reported the initial blast "had a wall of fire more than 1,000 feet high".
Explosion and fire
At 6:11:12 p.m. PDT on September 9, 2010, a huge explosion occurred in the Crestmoor residential neighborhood of San Bruno, near Skyline Boulevard and San Bruno Avenue. This caused a fire, which quickly engulfed nearby houses. Emergency responders of San Bruno and nearby cities soon arrived at the scene and evacuated surrounding neighborhoods. Strong winds fanned the flames, hampering extinguishing efforts. The blaze was fed by a ruptured gas pipe, and large clouds of smoke soared into the sky. It took 60 to 90 minutes to shut off the gas after the explosion, according to San Bruno Fire Chief Dennis Haag. The explosion and the resulting fire leveled 35 houses and damaged many more. Three more homes, deemed uninhabitable were torn down in December, bringing the total to 38. About 200 firefighters continued to battle the eight alarm fireMultiple-alarm fire
One-alarm, two-alarm, three-alarm fires, or higher, are categories of fires indicating the level of response by local authorities, with an elevated number of alarms indicating increased commitment of resources. The term multiple-alarm is a quick way of indicating that a fire was severe and...
that resulted from the explosions. The explosion excavated an asymmetric crater
Explosion crater
An explosion crater is a characteristically shaped hole formed when material is ejected from the surface of the ground by an explosive event just above, at, or below the surface....
167 feet (50.9 m) long, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 40 feet (12.2 m) deep along the sidewalk of Glenview Drive in front of 1701 Earl Avenue (a corner house), but many of the destroyed homes were eastward in the 1600 block of Claremont Drive.
The fire continued to burn for several hours after the initial explosion. The explosion compromised a water main and necessitated that firefighters truck in water from outside sources. Firefighters were assisted by residents who dragged fire hoses nearly 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) to working hydrants. Ordinary citizens drove injured people and burn victims to the hospital. Mutual aid responded from all over the Bay Area, including the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is the State of California's agency responsible for fire protection in State Responsibility Areas of California as well as the administration of the state's private and public forests. It is often referred to as The California Department of...
who sent 25 fire engines, 4 airtankers, 2 air attack planes, and 1 helicopter.
The fire was only fifty percent contained by 10 p.m. PDT and continued to burn until about 11:40 a.m. PDT the next day. As of September 29, 2010, the death toll was eight people. Among the eight deaths was 20 year old, Jessica Morales, who was with her boyfriend, Joseph Ruigomez, at the epicenter of the fire (his home) on the corner of Earl Ave. Another two people at the Claremont address close to the explosion were among those killed: Jacqueline Greig, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa Greig. Greig worked for the California Public Utilities Commission
California Public Utilities Commission
The California Public Utilities Commission is a regulatory agency which regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies...
, in a small unit that advocates for consumer rights pertaining to natural gas regulations. She had spent part of the summer evaluating PG&E's expansion plans and investment proposals to replace out-of-date pipelines. Also killed in the blast were Lavonne Bullis, 82, Greg Bullis, 50, and Will Bullis, 17.
San Bruno
A Red Cross shelter was set up at the Veterans Memorial Recreation Center in San Bruno, and the Blood Centers of the PacificBlood Centers of the Pacific
Blood Centers of the Pacific is a community based, nonprofit blood center that collects blood donations and provides safe blood and blood components for transfusion and also related services to more than 40 hospitals in the Bay Area and Northern California...
issued an emergency appeal for blood donations. Some people were evacuated to Tanforan
The Shops at Tanforan
The Shops at Tanforan is a redeveloped, regional shopping mall in San Bruno, California. It is located in the Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area, 10 miles south of San Francisco. It is served by the adjacent San Bruno Bay Area Rapid Transit station, as well as several local SamTrans bus...
and Bayhill Shopping Centers. All elementary schools in the San Bruno Park Elementary School District
San Bruno Park Elementary School District
San Bruno Park Elementary School District was created in 1906 in San Bruno, California to meet the needs of a growing population following the San Francisco earthquake and fire...
, as well as Parkside Junior High, were closed on September 10. However, Capuchino High School
Capuchino High School
Capuchino High School is a public high school in San Bruno, California, although the school is surrounded by the city of Millbrae on all but one corner...
remained open. Some residents who were evacuated from their homes were allowed to return to those undamaged on Sunday, September 12.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric CompanyPacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , commonly known as PG&E, is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border...
(PG&E) is the owner of the pipeline. On September 10, PG&E's president, Christopher Johns, said the company was not able to approach the source of the explosion to investigate the cause. An official press release issued by PG&E on September 10 reported the pipe was a 30 inches (76.2 cm) steel transmission line.
PG&E shares fell 8% on the Friday after the explosion reducing the company's market capital by $1.57 billion.
PG&E also reduced their operating pressures by 20% after investigations revealed the pipeline may have been improperly installed.
After the San Bruno pipeline failure, PG&E was required to re-evaluate how it determines the maximum operating pressure for some 1,800 miles of pipeline throughout its system. Specifically, the California Public Utilities Commission asked PG&E officials to show their lines had been tested or examined in a way that could prove the pipeline can withstand the current maximum operating pressure. At the 15 March 2011 deadline for this Report, PG&E was unable to provide documentation for details of some of its gas transmission pipelines.
In response to the disaster and a subsequent decision (D.11-06-017) by the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E unveiled a plan in August 2011 to modernize and enhance safety of its gas transmission operations over several years, including automation of over 200 valves, strength testing over 700 miles (1,126.5 km) of pipe, replacing 185 miles (297.7 km), and upgrading another 200 miles (321.9 km) or so to allow in-line inspection. The plan was divided into two phases. The first phase, scheduled to end in 2014, targeted pipeline segments in urban areas, those not built to modern standards, and those which had not been strength tested. Project funding of $769 million was the subject of a PG&E application (R.11-02-019) for a three-year increase in gas rates starting January 2012.
On November 6th, 2011, an explosion occurred near Woodville, California during strength testing of PG&E pipelines. The explosion caused a mudslide in the area, however no casualties were reported.
California state government
Lt. Gov. Abel MaldonadoAbel Maldonado
Abel Maldonado is an American politician who was the 48th Lieutenant Governor of California. On November 23, 2009, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Maldonado as his nominee for Lieutenant Governor to fill the vacancy created by John Garamendi's election to the United States House of...
made a state of emergency declaration and signed an executive order to provide aid to victims.
State regulators ordered PG&E to survey all natural gas lines the company controls in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
later went through the area, after returning from a trade mission in Asia.
Federal government
U.S. Rep. Jackie SpeierJackie Speier
Karen Lorraine Jacqueline "Jackie" Speier is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2008. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and the southwest quarter of San Francisco.She is also a former member of the California State...
called the devastation "a very serious crisis" and was asking Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
(FEMA) to declare it a national disaster area.
Use of technology
The San Bruno explosion was notable for the fact that local technology companies such as Cisco SystemsCisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
dispatched their emergency response teams to provide emergency communications and enhanced mapping information at the request of responders at the scene. A number of unaffiliated technology volunteers were also requested to support these functions.
Investigation
San Bruno Police declared the area a crime scene to determine if foul play was involved. The National Transportation Safety BoardNational Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
began an investigation into the cause of the explosion. During the days prior to the explosion, some residents reported smelling natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
in the area. A source within PG&E reported a break in natural gas line number 132 caused the explosion. The gas line is a large 30 inches (76.2 cm) steel pipe. National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Christopher Hart said at a briefing that the segment of pipe that blew out onto the street was 28 feet (8.5 m) long, the explosion sent that piece of pipe about 100 feet (30.5 m) and the blast created a crater 167 feet (50.9 m) long and 26 feet (7.9 m) wide. He said that an inspection of the severed pipe chunk revealed that it was made of several smaller sections that had been welded together and that a seam ran its length. The presence of the welds did not necessarily indicate the pipe had been repaired, he said. Newer pipelines are usually manufactured into the shape needed for these applications, rather than having multiple weaker welded sections that could potentially leak or break.
In January 2011, federal investigators reported that they found numerous defective welds in the pipeline. The thickness of the pipe varied, and some welds did not penetrate the pipes completely. As PG&E increased the pressure in the pipes to meet growing energy demand, the defective welds were further weakened until their failure. As the pipeline was installed in 1956, modern testing methods such as X-rays were not able to detect the problem.
The NTSB held a 3-day public hearing on March 1 through 3, 2011, to gather additional facts for the ongoing investigation of the pipeline rupture and explosion.
Parties to the public hearing included:
- Pacific Gas & Electric
- California Public Utilities CommissionCalifornia Public Utilities CommissionThe California Public Utilities Commission is a regulatory agency which regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies...
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety AdministrationPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety AdministrationThe Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration was created under the Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act of 2004. United States president George W. Bush signed the legislation into law on November 30, 2004...
(PHMSA) - The City of San Bruno
- International Brotherhood of Electrical WorkersInternational Brotherhood of Electrical WorkersThe International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor union which represents workers in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Panama and several Caribbean island nations; particularly electricians, or Inside Wiremen, in the construction industry and linemen and other...
Local 1245
The NTSB also published call logs from the Milpitas PG&E gas terminal to a gas control center. An uninterruptible power supply
Uninterruptible power supply
An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails...
(UPS) replacement was started at the Milpitas terminal several hours before the San Bruno explosion.
It was revealed that PG&E had done pipeline replacement work on Line 132 along parts of the San Andreas Fault zone, near this area, to reduce the likelihood of the pipeline failing from an earthquake. However, the replacement was stopped short of the area that failed in 2010.
Litigation
Over 100 plaintiffs, through approximately 20 law firms, have sued Pacific Gas and Electric and/or its parent, PG&E Corporation, in the Superior Courts of CaliforniaSuperior Courts of California
The Superior Courts of California are the superior courts in the U.S. state of California with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a government agency...
in over 70 separate lawsuits. Virtually all were filed in the local state court, the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo. On February 24, 2011, the court's presiding judge, Mark Forcum, approved a petition for "coordination" of the San Bruno cases as authorized by California Code of Civil Procedure Section 404. After Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye
Tani Cantil-Sakauye
Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye , a Filipina-American jurist, is the 28th Chief Justice of California. Nominated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for California's highest judicial office on July 22, 2010, and retained in office by California voters on November 2, 2010, she was sworn in on January 3, 2011...
approved the petition in her capacity as chair of the state Judicial Council
Judicial Council of California
The Judicial Council of California is the rule-making arm of the California court system. It was created by an amendment to article VI of the California Constitution in 1926...
, all the cases were transferred to Judge Steven L. Dylina on March 4, 2011, and designated as Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding (JCCP) No. 4648, PG&E "San Bruno Fire" Cases.
As is typical in complex mass tort litigation, the court designated "liaison counsel" for the plaintiffs at a initial case management conference on May 26, 2011. On June 3, 2011, through such counsel, the plaintiffs filed a consolidated Master Complaint. Individual plaintiffs then filed "adoptions" of the allegations in the Master Complaint over the next three weeks. Lead plaintiffs' "liaison counsel" on the Master Complaint were Frank M. Pitre of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP and Jerry E. Nastari of Corey, Luzaich, Pliska, De Ghetaldi & Nastari, LLP.
On July 5, 2011, PG&E and PG&E Corp. filed their Answer to the Master Complaint, through their defense counsel, Kate Dyer of Clarence, Dyer & Cohen LLP, John J. Lyons of Latham & Watkins LLP
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins LLP is a global law firm, one of the largest in the world. Latham currently employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive Californian roots, but its largest office is now...
, and Gayle L. Gough of Sedgwick LLP. A week later, the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
ran a front-page story attacking the defendants for invoking certain routine defenses in their answer, like state-of-the-art and comparative negligence
Comparative negligence
Comparative negligence, or non-absolute contributory negligence outside of the United States, is a partial legal defense that reduces the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim based upon the degree to which the plaintiff's own negligence contributed to cause...
.
External links
- Resources for Residents – San Bruno website
- Before and after comparison photos
- Photo gallery Photos of the disaster from San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
. - San Bruno explosion map Interactive map from Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. - Resources for San Bruno Residents (ABC7)
- Aerial photograph of the aftermath – Taken on 9/11/2010
- Before and after comparison photos
- Photo gallery and links to stories and information
- Commercial pilots in the air realized it was not a plane crash – Video
- Surveillance video of the explosion from a gas station one quarter mile away – Video
- Surveillance video from inside a grocery store one quarter mile away – Video
- National Pipeline Mapping System – Location of gas transport pipelines
