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Thursday evening I saw a Tweet come in. It said there was an airplane crash in San Bruno.

I grew up across from the San Francisco Airport and my dad used to always joke that an airplane – someday – would come crashing thru the front window. And now I’m – allegedly – reading about it on Twitter.

Around 6 pm on Thursday, a gas main exploded in San Bruno – and took lives and homes with it. No airplane. Gas main. LARGE gas main.

I spent much of Thursday night culling thru spotty news coverage (I’m in Sacramento), looking at Google maps and watching footage of a neighborhood that I spent a lot of time in – go up in flames.

My big concern: Did Bob’s parents get out?

As the evening went on – and I watched footage of 1950s tract homes (that mostly look alike), I started to piece together the scenario. By 2 am, my wife found a report of an eyewitness who saw each home on their street go up one after another. Their house was about a block away from the explosion.

Friday morning I was able to confirm that Bob’s parents – and their dog – did get out. That’s the good news. Their house, however, is completely gone.

Click to view before and after images/jump

In the coming weeks, there’s going to be reports of prior ‘gas smell’ in the area (since San Bruno is next to the airport, San Bruno itself has sort of an airplane fuel-like aroma already), PG&E and how they maintain their equipment (based on relatives who worked there, I’ve heard stories all my life about PG&E’s ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude), how natural gas works, why there was no water to fight the fires, why there was such a huge main in a residential neighborhood, were there terrorists, what do the Kardashians think, etc.

For now, I’m still sort of looking on in shock.

The gas main  . . .

and the hole it made

Photos and video found via KGO-TV

tags: thoughts // 6 comments  . . .