Janie Har Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO – A gas explosion in San Francisco shot a tower of flames into the sky and burned five buildings including one of the city’s popular restaurants before firefighters brought the blaze under control. There were no injuries. Wednesday’s explosion and fire sent panicked residents and workers in the city’s Inner Richmond neighborhood fleeing into the streets as flames shot above the rooftops of nearby three-story buildings. "We just felt the shaking, and the next thing we knew, people were banging on the door to tell people it’s time to start evacuating," said resident Nick Jalali, 28, who was cooking at home when the electricity cut out. Utility crews put out the fire about three hours after private construction workers cut a natural gas line, which ignited the fire, San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said. Authorities initially said five workers were missing, but the entire construction crew was found safe, and no other injuries were reported. Hayes-White said the construction crew was apparently working on fiber-optic wires. More:Pipeline peril: Natural gas explosions reveal silent danger lurking in old cast iron pipes Five buildings were damaged, including a building housing Hong Kong Lounge II, a reservations-required dim sum restaurant that is a fixture on the city’s "best of" lists. The fire began on the street in front of the restaurant. Officials evacuated several nearby buildings, including a medical clinic and apartments, Hayes-White said. Vehicles on a busy street were rerouted as authorities cordoned off the bustling neighborhood. Caroline Gasparini, 24, who lives kitty-corner from where the fire was, said she and her housemate were in their living room when the windows started rattling. She looked up to see flames reflected in the glass. "We went into crisis mode," Gasparini said. "We grabbed our shoes, grabbed our laptops and grabbed our passports and just left." Gasparini said they saw employees of the burning restaurant run out the back door and people fleeing down the block. Firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading while Pacific Gas & Electric crews tried to shut off the natural gas line. "It's complicated," Hayes-White said of stopping the flow of gas through the damaged pipe. Though she later acknowledged that "as a fire chief and a resident, yes, I would have liked to see it mitigated." PG&E spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said state excavation rules required crews to hand dig around multiple subsurface pipelines of various sizes before they were eventually able to "squeeze" a four-inch plastic line. She said since the fire was contained to a limited area, the utility had to weigh the threat from the fire with the risk that would come from more drastic action. "Had we turned the gas off to a transmission system, we would have shut off gas to nearly the entire city of San Francisco," she said. "The objective of this was to turn the gas off safely and as quickly as possible." Subbotin said PG&E would shut off a transmission line in an earthquake. PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty stressed that the workers who cut the gas line are not affiliated with the utility, which is under heightened scrutiny over its natural gas pipelines. A PG&E pipeline exploded under a neighborhood south of San Francisco in 2010, killing eight people and wiping out a neighborhood in suburban San Bruno. A U.S. judge PG&E $3 million for a conviction on six felony charges of failing to properly maintain the pipeline and the utility remains under a federal judge’s watch in that case. Associated Press writers Paul Elias, Olga R. Rodriguez and Juliet Williams in San Francisco contributed to this report.<doc-sep>The San Francisco Fire Department responded to an explosion reported at Geary Boulevard and Parker Avenue in the Richmond District this afternoon just after 1 p.m. Footage from onlookers shows beloved dim sum restaurant Hong Kong Lounge II in flames: The fire department is telling residents to avoid the area and is evacuating the vicinity. ABC7 reports the fire was caused by a “huge natural gas explosion.” Calls to area business were not immediately returned. Eater SF has contacted SFFD for further updates and will post them accordingly. #020619WF2 3rd Alarm we have in accounted workers rescues in progress AVOID AREA EVACUATION IN PLACE 1 block circumference MEDIA UPDATE COOK AND GEARY AT 1510 hrs pic.twitter.com/ZSuM6fUhQp — SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT (@SFFDPIO) February 6, 2019 An employee at nearby restaurant Kaiju Eats, Ellie Wi, heard of the explosion from workers at the restaurant, who have now lost power. “We [at Kaiju Eats] are okay,” she says. “My coworker took a picture. Half the [Hong Kong Lounge II] building is gone.” “I hope that everyone is okay,” she says. #020629WF2 UPDATE 3ed Alarm Gas explosion (construction crew) 4 buildings involved 5 workers in accounted for evacuations 1 Block circumference (police and fire will knock at your door) media update by chief of Department at 1410 hrs at cook and Geary (media staging) pic.twitter.com/OZ3PyepFSN — SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT (@SFFDPIO) February 6, 2019 Update, 2:15 p.m.: Five missing workers were found safe and uninjured according to SFFD. According to San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, workers from a private contractor were installing a fiber cable line in the street and struck the gas line, resulting in the explosion. Telmo Faria, a neighborhood resident and the chef/owner of restaurants Uma Casa and Piri Pica, noticed the construction workers outside Hong Kong Lounge II as he and his girlfriend settled in for lunch across the street at Mel’s Diner. “We were talking about our order, and all of a sudden I heard this loud rumble and felt the windows shake,” says Faria. “I thought there was a big car accident or something. My back was to the window, and when I saw peoples faces looking outside, it looked like they’d seen a ghost.” Faria turned around to see “massive 50-foot flames.” He and his girlfriend fled on foot, fearing more explosions. “It’s really sad,” says Faria. “We love Hong Kong Lounge II. As we were leaving, I could see the front starting to catch fire. I know the family and the people that work there.” #020619WF2 UPDATE FIRE CONTAINED NO INJURIES 5 structures involved expect complete road closure for 4 hours minimum - under investigation Media update at 430 pm Anza and Parker pic.twitter.com/KszvzbJgi9 — SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT (@SFFDPIO) February 7, 2019 Update, 5 p.m.: Roads are still closed in the area of Geary near the scene of today’s explosion. SFFD extinguished the blaze, which affected a total of five buildings, after gas lines to the area were finally shut off. Eater SF has reached out to Hong Kong Lounge II’s management for comment on the fire. Another Richmond dim sum restaurant called Hong Kong Lounge is separately owned and operated.<doc-sep>EMBED >More News Videos A terrifying explosion and fire took place in San Francisco's Jordan Park neighborhood on Wednesday. EMBED >More News Videos Flames shot into the air following a possible gas explosion in San Francisco. Here's a look at video from the scene. EMBED >More News Videos Here's a look from the sky of the massive fire consuming a building in San Francisco's Inner Richmond neighborhood. Inbound Geary at Parker - headed toward downtown San Francisco- is open. It is the outbound side that is closed from yesterday’s fire. And you can’t drive through here on Parker. PG&E crews are still on scene. pic.twitter.com/P2I9lLdBIt — Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) February 7, 2019 Still a very active scene at Parker & Geary in San Francisco this morning. PG&E has not said how long workers will be here. The intersection is closed. pic.twitter.com/2HKKs99oxi — Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) February 7, 2019 Muni reroutes due to yesterday's gas explosion: pic.twitter.com/hRZycFUsVT — Alexis Smith (@AlexisABC7) February 7, 2019 SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The NTSB is sending a team of eight to investigate yesterday's fiery explosion of a PG&E gas line in San Francisco. They are flying from Washington D.C. and expected to arrive later this afternoon.PG&E says electricity has been restored to all neighbors impacted by the fire, however, some gas service remains out.The fire chief says this started when construction crews working on underground fiber optics hit a gas line. That caused a gas leak and because of the leak, she says they had free-flowing flames for 2 hours and 15 minutes until PG&E capped the gas line. PG&E says it took so long to cap the line because it is a very complex situation with a web of different lines underground to deal with.Witnesses say there was an explosion and then people were running from the scene. The explosions burned five buildings in the city's Inner Richmond neighborhood. "Just a huge ball of fire. It was really loud. You could hear it spewing, you could hear the gas spraying really loud," said Jeff Pace, nearby worker.There are still traffic impacts from the explsion. Inbound Geary at Parker, headed toward downtown San Francisco, is open. The outbound side remains closed from yesterday's fire. Drivers will not have access through Parker. Muni delays are expected and the 38 bus line has been rerouted.Mayor London Breed is praising the work of first responders: "The good news is that no one was injured or hurt thanks to the quick response that happened with the San Francisco Fire Department and the San Francisco Police Department. I am grateful for their service. "The five buildings that were damaged were a mix of retail and residential buildings-including the popular Dim Sum restaurant Hong Kong Lounge II.Late Wednesday, mandatory evacuation orders only applied to those whose homes or businesses were directly impacted by the fire and firefight. The rough estimate of people displaced was 100 people. San Francisco Fire is hoping that number will be much lower once landlords account for all their tenants.Dozens of people ended up returning home to collect important items then had to leave.No one was killed or hurt.<doc-sep>SAN FRANCISCO — No one was injured in an suspected gas-line explosion Wednesday afternoon, but it took PG&E crews some two hours to choke off a gas-fueled fire spout after the blast. Shortly after 1:10 p.m., firefighters responded to reports of the explosion and fire near a construction site in the 3300 block of Geary Boulevard at Parker Avenue. The first call from San Francisco fire dispatchers to firefighters described a “gas rupture,” with “possibly something burning.” About two minutes later, a firefighter reported to dispatch seeing flames shooting skyward from about six blocks away on Masonic Avenue. Vallejo resident Adrian Burrell said he happened to be in a ride-share vehicle nearby when the explosion happened. “It was right directly in front of us,” Burrell said. “I was talking to the driver and she suddenly screamed. There was fire and flames, and people were running toward the car.” Burrell said the driver tried to back up, and eventually managed to turn the car around and drive into oncoming traffic lanes to get away. “It was so big and so crazy. I smelled the gas. I just hope everybody’s okay. You don’t expect something like that to happen,” Burrell said. Responding firefighters made sure the area was evacuated and set up water lines on the fires, but the flames could not be controlled until the gas line feeding the fire was choked off. At least one shelter-in-place alert was called for nearby buildings and a pre-school and middle school campus. The fire was up to three alarms by about 2 p.m., burning four buildings on the block, including the popular Hong Kong Lounge II dim-sum restaurant. Five workers were briefly reported to be missing, but San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said later they had been found safely and that there were believed to be no injuries and no one missing. Hayes-White said preliminary assessments appeared to show that a private contractor’s construction crew had been working on a fiber-optic cable when the rupture happened. In a tweet, PG&E said the “[f]low of gas was stopped at 3:36 p.m. after a third-party construction crew – unaffiliated with PG&E – struck a gas distribution pipeline,” and added that about 300 customers would be without gas and 2,500 electric customers affected until fixes were complete. A statement shared Wednesday by Oakland-based Local Clean Energy Alliance decried what organizers perceived to be a needlessly delayed response. “The No PG&E Bailout network recognizes that this pipeline explosion could have been a whole lot worse, but to know that PG&E is unable to turn the gas off in time to respond to this potentially catastrophic situation is outrageous,” the statement read. “We continue to call attention to PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) continued gross negligence that puts workers’ and residents’ lives at risk. We reaffirm our commitment to ratepayers, by fighting the PG&E bailout and call for a public takeover of our electrical and gas utilities, in order to make it accountable to public and worker safety.” SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEB. 6: A fire burns in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, after a contractor struck a gas line on Geary Boulevard at Parker Street. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) Onlookers at the intersection of Parker Avenue and Anza Street watch as firefighters and PG&E workers battle a gas-line explosion and fire in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group) Firefighters and PG&E workers battle a gas-line explosion and fire in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group) Firefighters and PG&E workers responded to the scene of a gas-line explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon on Geary Avenue in San Francisco. (Kaitlyn Bartley/Bay Area News Group) Firefighters and PG&E workers responded to the scene of a gas-line explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon on Geary Avenue in San Francisco. (Kaitlyn Bartley/Bay Area News Group) Firefighters and PG&E workers battle a gas-line explosion and fire in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group) Firefighters and PG&E workers responded to the scene of a gas-line explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon on Geary Avenue in San Francisco. (Kaitlyn Bartley/Bay Area News Group) SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEB. 6: A fire burns in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, after a contractor struck a gas line on Geary Boulevard at Parker Street. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) Onlookers gather behind a police line near the site of a gas-line explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon on Geary Avenue in San Francisco. (Kaitlyn Bartley/Bay Area News Group) Journalists gather behind a police line near the site of a gas-line explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon on Geary Avenue in San Francisco. (Kaitlyn Bartley/Bay Area News Group) Because the neighborhood has a mix of commercial and residential buildings, some who live nearby were not likely to be able to go back to their homes Wednesday. An evacuation order was still in effect for residents at least one block in all directions from the fire site. Red Cross Bay Area staff responded to the area to tend to some residents, and city staff said a reunification site was available at Mel’s Drive In, 3355 Geary at Beaumont Avenue. Police also responded to block off traffic along nearby streets. Geary is a major artery for San Francisco traffic; the closure caused several bus routes to be moved and traffic was heavy all around the area. Caroline Gasparini, 25, and Kaitlyn Johnson, 24, were in their apartment a few doors down just before the explosion. “We were in the living room, and what caught our attention was our windows started to shake,” Gasparini said. “There’s so much construction noise that you usually assume it’s a truck. Then we saw flames that shot up that were above the building, just shooting straight up, and we decided to gather our stuff and exit.” Johnson noted that neighborhood residents responded fairly quickly, even before police and firefighters arrived. “We saw the pre-school get evacuated,” Johnson said of the neighborhood’s One Fifty Parker Avenue School.<doc-sep>
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A construction site gas line explosion ignited an inferno in a San Francisco neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, burning five buildings before crews were able to cap the gas. PG&E and San Francisco Fire confirmed that the gas line feeding the massive over 30-foot-high flames had been turned off at 3:38 p.m., almost two and a half hours after the explosion. The incident happened at the corner of Geary Blvd. and Parker Ave. at 1:18 p.m. Wednesday in the city’s Jordan Park neighborhood between Laurel Heights and the Richmond District. A two-story building on the corner – site of Hong Kong Lounge II restaurant and residences on the second floor – was extensively damaged by the fire. PHOTO GALLERY: Explosion Starts Gas-Fueled Fire In San Francisco Police and fire department personnel evacuated people within a one-block radius of the fire, the fire department said. “I saw this spew of gas coming out of where they were working, and I said, ‘That’s a gas main,’ said witness John Anglin. “And within probably five seconds, all of a sudden it ignited and the flames just shot, like, straight up the air, probably 20, 30 feet up in the air. It was crazy.” San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said workers with a private contractor were installing a fiber-optic cable line when they ripped into a gas line with an excavator. The flames enveloped the excavator and spread quickly to the nearby restaurant. The smoke was thick in the area and the flames from the gas line were reaching above the buildings two-and-a-half hours after the original explosion. Five restaurant workers originally reported as missing were later accounted for, the fire department said. “I was walking through the intersection just before it exploded and I looked up and saw a bunch of people in front of me screaming,” said witness Michael Comstock “So I turned around I saw the flame growing behind me. It just kind of started erupting and I actually thought it was a bomb for a second. So I just started taking off down the street.” The fire reached a third alarm as of 1:50 p.m. At least five buildings were involved, according to the fire department. “We were in the store, we heard almost like an air noise,” Michael, a worker at a nearby Verizon store, told KPIX 5. “It sounded like pressure was building up. I saw people running across the street so I ran out. We saw flames everywhere. Construction workers saying, ‘get back.’ They said someone is probably dead. I’m just hoping everything is okay.” Sisters Cindy and Judy Chan were inside the Hong Kong Flower Lounge II restaurant–a Top 100 restaurant on San Francisco Chronicle’s list–celebrating Chinese New Year with their parents, sitting right next to the fire when it erupted. “I heard popping sounds. I thought it was fire crackers because it’s Chinese New Year,” said Cindy Chan. Within seconds, all they could see was a bright orange glow surrounding the restaurant. The Chans said restaurant staff escorted everyone in the restaurant through the kitchen and and a back banquet room to get out of the endangered restaurant. A number of patients from an endoscopy center down the street were evacuated. At least one school in the area, Roosevelt Middle School three blocks west of the fire, was reportedly being evacuated. People were being urged to avoid the area. The heavily-traveled corridor of Geary Boulevard was closed in both directions at the site of the fire and was expected to remain closed overnight for repairs as crews had to dig up the roadway in the effort to cap the gas leak. A number of San Francisco Muni routes, including the always busy 38 Geary line, have been rerouted. Some 300 customers were left without gas service and another 235 customers without power following the explosion and fire, but most of the electricity was completely restored before the night ended, according to PG&E. Only 41 of the 235 were without power at 10:15 p.m. PG&E said late Wednesday evening that there was no estimated time of when service will be up. They will have 7 customer reps working overnight to alert customers when their gas comes back online. At 7 a.m. Thursday morning, they will have 20 to 30 customer representatives in the area. Many of those who were evacuated were not going to be going to able to return Wednesday.