Tonight, a 60-foot pillar of fire erupted from a punctured Kinder-Morgan petroleum pipeline beside Las Lomas High School in San Bruno California, when a a backhoe digging too close apparently clipped the high-pressure fuel line.
The result? An explosion: two men were found dead after the initial explosion and five headed to a local hospital. According to the Mercury News, the explosion was caused by a break in a two-foot-wide natural gas pipeline, the first such incident since a pipeline explosion killed several construction workers in Walnut Creek, California in November 2004.
Broadcast footage shown on KPIX-TV showed at least a dozen homes destroyed, with flames reaching as high as 60 feet in the air as the fire fueled itself on the burning homes. Planes and helicopters flew over the neighborhood dumping water in an effort to stanch the flames.
It’s not everyday that an incident like this happens in a neighborhood, of this magnitude, where people are left feeling helpless. The area where the fire is burning in a mostly residential area a few miles from San Francisco International Airport, and they believe that the fire may have originated at a gas station, but it hasn’t yet been confirmed.
Photo Credits: Incredible shots taken by Dan Honda, Mercury News
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
