Ruptured Daly City gas line forces evacuations; Neighborhood shelter in place order

DALY CITY --- A gas line ruptured and burst into flames late Monday night, triggering evacuations and a shelter in place order for a Daly City neighborhood.

A neighbor told KPIX she heard an explosion while getting ready for bed at around 10:45 p.m. inside her Gellert Ave. home.

"I heard a lot explosion, actually several explosions, outside my home," Michelle said. "I thought it was lightning and thunder, but it sounded too close to the house. So I looked out of window and could see fire two houses up from me."

North County Fire Batallion Chief Jeff Huntz said crews responded to the scene. They evacuated about a half dozen homes, issued a shelter in place order for the remainder of the neighborhood and shut down traffic on several streets.

"It appears an electrical vault may have blown and now we have a gas fire," he said.

Utility officials said preliminary information shows an underground electric transformer failure caused damage to a small, low pressure natural gas distribution pipe, leading to a gas fire.  

Firefighters were at the scene to assist the PG&E crews, who needed to dig up the line to shut it off.  The process, Huntz said, who take several more hours.

"We expect the flow of gas to be stopped within the next hour with repairs continuing throughout the day," officials said.

That wasn't good news for Michelle who was forced to stay outside on the cold and rainy morning.

"It's a little scary," she told KPIX. "It's cold and all I want to do is to get back in the house."

No injuries were reported and the flames have not spread to any near by homes.