PG&E Told Firefighters They ‘Did Not Need Assistance’ Before Gas Explosion Near Hayward

A new report by federal investigators looking into a fire and explosion near Hayward last month revealed that Alameda County Fire Department officials who were on scene to respond to the damaged gas line left at the suggestion of PG&E more than an hour and a half before the explosion erupted.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report, released Thursday, is the clearest timeline of events on Dec. 11, which resulted in three destroyed buildings and six people being hospitalized. Investigators have not said what sparked the explosion.

The brief report recounts some details that officials had already disclosed. Just before 7:30 that morning, PG&E learned that construction workers had damaged one of their gas lines on the 800 block of Lewelling Boulevard in the unincorporated East Bay community of Ashland.

Within 20 minutes, PG&E was on scene and identified a gas leak. While fire department officials had previously acknowledged that they arrived and then quickly left, the report clearly states why.

“The Alameda County Fire Department arrived on the scene about 7:51 a.m. but left soon after when a PG&E responder informed them that they did not need assistance,” the report said.

The NTSB report notably did not address a claim from an involved construction company that the affected PG&E gas line was at a depth that “deviated” from required code specifications. Officials with the NTSB also previously declined to answer questions about the pipe depth while investigators were on site.

PG&E officials said federal investigation rules restrict them from commenting on the matter.

Roughly 30 minutes after arriving, around 8:18 a.m., PG&E had squeezed off the damaged line to stop the leak, but then detected gas near a home across the street.

“A PG&E crew on scene reported that they had knocked on the doors of the accident home, and the two houses on either side of the accident home … to make contact with the residents, but no one responded,” the report continues, citing interviews with those PG&E workers.

That crew started digging around 8:40 a.m. and had stopped the flow of gas to additional service lines by around 9:29 a.m., but less than ten minutes later, the explosion sparked.

Video footage from a nearby doorbell camera shows a home’s roof falling to pieces as workers run for cover.

Although PG&E workers said they got no response to knocking attempts, there were at least three people within the home who suffered serious injuries, two of whom were still being treated at the Bothin Burn Center at UCSF Health Hyde Hospital in San Francisco the following afternoon.

A GoFundMe page reportedly set up by a neighbor on behalf of the family identified those hospitalized as two adult siblings and a child.

“This family has been left with nothing. No clothing, no food, no cars — everything exploded or was burned by the ensuing fire,” the GoFundMe page states.

Three members of the PG&E crew also went to the hospital with injuries, but were treated and released.

Federal investigators say they won’t be releasing any additional details at this time, and the full investigation could take one to two years to complete.