At Least One Person Dead, Many Injured in San Bruno Gas Line Explosion

A massive explosion believed to have been caused by a gas line break sparked an inferno that consumed a San Bruno neighborhood Thursday night, killing at least one person, leveling 53 homes, forcing residents to run for their lives and leaving about 23 people injured, a number of them with severe burns.

The blast, which occurred shortly after 6 p.m., ignited a wind-driven fire that quickly destroyed or damaged more than 170 homes, set treetops on fire and illuminated the sky for miles around, Los Angeles Times reports.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the utility company that serves the area, said one of its gas lines had ruptured but cautioned that the cause of the blast had not been determined, The Associated Press reported.

The explosion erupted about 6 p.m. on a hillside near Interstates 280 and 380, in a residential area about two miles west of San Francisco International Airport, New York Times informs.