California
Dramatic explosion caught on video destroys homes, injures six, officials say
A natural gas line leak triggered a dramatic explosion that destroyed a Bay Area home on Thursday, injuring six people and damaging several other properties.
At least one person was inside the home before it was leveled in the blast. The individual managed to escape without injury, but six others were hurt, including three who suffered serious injuries, Alameda County Fire Department spokesperson Cheryl Hurd said.
“It was a chaotic scene,” Hurd said. “There was fire and debris and smoke everywhere, power lines down, people self-evacuated from the home. … Someone was on the sidewalk with severe burns.”
The leak started after a third-party construction crew working Thursday morning in the 800 block of East Lewelling Boulevard in Hayward struck a Pacific Gas and Electric underground natural gas line, according to a statement from the utility.
Fire crews were first dispatched to the scene at 7:46 a.m. after PG&E reported a suspected natural gas leak, Hurd said. PG&E officials were already on scene when fire engines arrived, and reportedly told firefighters their assistance was not needed, Hurd said.
Utility workers attempted to isolate the damaged line, but gas was leaking from multiple locations. Workers shut off the flow of gas at about 9:25 a.m. About ten minutes later an explosion occurred, PG&E said in a statement.
Fire crews were called back to the same address, where at least 75 firefighters encountered heavy flames and a thick column of smoke. Surrounding homes sustained damage from the blast and falling debris. Three buildings were destroyed on two separate properties and several others were damaged, according to fire officials.
Six people were taken to Eden Medical Center, including three with severe injuries requiring immediate transport. Officials declined to comment on the nature of their injuries.
Video captured from a Ring doorbell affixed to a neighboring house showed an excavator digging near the home moments before the explosion. The blast rattled nearby homes, shattered windows and sent construction crews running.
Initially, authorities suspected that two people were missing after the blast. That was determined not to be the case, Hurd said.
“They brought in two cadaver dogs looking to see if anyone was still trapped under the rubble, and the dogs cleared everything,” Hurd said.
Brittany Maldonado had just returned from dropping off her son at school Thursday morning when she noticed a PG&E employee checking out her gas meter. He informed her that there was an issue and they had to turn off the gas to her home.
She didn’t think twice about it.
“About 45 minutes later, everything shakes,” she told reporters at the scene. “It was a big boom…first we think someone ran into our house—a truck or something—and then we look outside and it’s like a war zone.”
The house across the street was leveled, Maldonado said. When she watched the footage from her Ring camera she said it looked as though a bomb inside the home had gone off.
“I’m very glad that no one lost their lives,” she said.
Officials with the Sheriff’s Office, PG&E and the National Transportation Safety Board are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to the explosion.
In 2010, a PG&E pipeline ruptured in a San Bruno neighborhood, destroying 38 homes and killing eight people. California regulators later approved a $1.6-billion fine against the utility for violating state and federal pipeline safety standards.
Staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report
California
Letters to the Editor: The entire premise of California’s proposed one-time wealth tax is misleading
To the editor: Having been a tax practitioner now for more than 60 years — much of it involving the very wealthy — the entire project of the California wealth tax is ludicrous because the premise for its one-time imposition is misleading, if not dishonest (“Is California’s proposed billionaire tax smart policy? History holds lessons,” Jan. 26).
The proposed tax is being sold as a replacement for the imminent loss of federal Medicaid. Any “tax expert” with common sense is well aware that many — perhaps a significant majority — of the targets of the tax will contest it (and aggressively discount their assets in self-assessing their tax) at the administrative (appeals) level and, if not satisfied, will proceed with litigation.
This process takes years to play out. The state administrative behemoth will be spending enormous amounts of (non-billionaire) taxpayer dollars to collect money that will arrive far into the future and long after the alleged need for imminent spending on any healthcare needs — if it arrives at all.
The proponents should know this quite well, indicating that the entire initiative is an asset seizure masquerading as moral virtue.
Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica
This writer is the former tax policy and practice columnist for Tax Notes magazine.
..
To the editor: Rather than imposing a “wealth tax,” wouldn’t it make more sense to just rewrite the tax code so that the loopholes that essentially give multimillionaires and billionaires a free ride were sewn up so that they had to pay their fair share?
Susan Greenberg, Los Angeles
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To the editor: The backers of the wealth tax bill claimed that they learned from Europe’s experience. But why did the European countries that repealed such wealth taxes repeal them outright instead of learning from what happened and improving on how the taxes were implemented?
Ming Lai, Frisco, Texas
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A California mother was arrested on felony child abuse charges after a viral video showed her 19-month-old child falling from a moving SUV at a busy Fullerton intersection, police said Monday.
The Fullerton Police Department said it became aware of the video, which shows a black SUV turning at an intersection when a passenger-side door suddenly opens. A small child then falls out of the vehicle and onto the roadway.
The SUV immediately stops, and a car following behind narrowly avoids colliding with it. The car stops just short of the child on the roadway.
The video shows an adult woman running from the driver’s side, picking up the child and placing the toddler back inside the SUV before driving away.
MAN RUNS INTO FLORIDA STREET TO SAVE TWO YOUNG CHILDREN WHO WANDERED AWAY FROM RENTAL HOME
A black SUV turns at an intersection when a passenger-side door suddenly opens and a small child falls out of the vehicle and onto the roadway. (Fullerton Police Department)
A witness called police on Saturday and provided identifying information about the vehicle. Officers traced the SUV to a home in La Habra, where they located the vehicle, the child and a suspect believed to be the woman seen in the video.
A car following the SUV narrowly avoided hitting the child and SUV. (Fullerton Police Department)
Police identified the child as a 19-month-old who suffered injuries consistent with the fall. The toddler was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.
FLORIDA DEPUTIES RACE TO SAVE 4-YEAR-OLD WHO STOPPED BREATHING AND HAD NO PULSE ON INTERSTATE, VIDEO SHOWS
The suspect was identified as Jacqueline Hernandez, 35, of La Habra, and the child’s mother. She was arrested and booked into the Fullerton City Jail for felony child abuse, police said.
The child’s mother, identified as Jacqueline Hernandez, 35, of La Habra, picks the child up from the road. Hernandez was later arrested and charged with felony child abuse, police said. (Fullerton Police Department)
Neighbors told FOX11 Los Angeles that the family has several children and could not believe the mother would put her children in such a dangerous situation.
“I can’t excuse something like that, I’m sorry,” a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous told the local station.
Investigators believe the incident occurred between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Jan. 20. Police said they did not receive any emergency calls related to the incident at the time.
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The investigation remains ongoing, and police are asking anyone with additional information to contact the Fullerton Police Department’s Sensitive Crimes Unit.
Several of the candidates vying to become California’s next governor gathered Monday at the University of California, San Francisco to make their case to voters.
Seven Democrats took the stage at UCSF to outline their priorities for their first 100 days in office. Republican candidates were invited but declined to participate.
On June 2, California voters will narrow the field to two candidates in an open primary. Those two will then face off on Nov. 3.
NBC Bay Area’s Velena Jones has more in the video report above.
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