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March 10, 2011

Call logs: workers alerted before pipeline blast

  • Records show operators knew a botched repair job was letting natural gas flow unabated as much as half an hour before the deadly explosion in San Bruno, Calif.
    • By GARANCE BURKE
    Associated Press

    SAN FRANCISCO — Minutes before eight people died in a fiery pipeline explosion, California utility crews raced to stop gas pressure surges they feared would cause a “major, major problem,” call logs released by the federal government show.

    Operators knew as long as half an hour before the Sept. 9 blast in a San Francisco suburb that a botched repair job in a nearby control station was letting natural gas flow unabated, but felt powerless to fix the problem remotely, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. records.


     
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