SF learns: San Bruno explosion, who got the blame? (photos, video)

SF learns: San Bruno explosion, who got the blame? (photos, video)

SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- San Francisco residents are learning in top news that Federal investigators pinned blame on Tuesday squarely on the shoulders of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for the natural gas pipeline blast in San Bruno, California.

San Bruno is just outside the city of San Francisco and disruptions were caused in San Francisco because of the fire.

"It was a horrible accident.  We will never forget it." says San Francisco resident, James Aldrich.

Slideshow: Dramatic pictures of the fire and explosion as it was happening

Those Federal investigators condemned PG&E's safety practices, calling them shoddy. The explosion in San Bruno caused the destruction of the neighborhood and caused the death of eight people.

After the initial gas leak, two more were found. (See that article here: Two more gas leak alerts in San Francisco Bay Area (photos, video)

According to SFGate in San Francisco, it took the National Transportation Safety Board close to a year to investigate the San Bruno incident.  They stated that "federal and state pipeline regulatory efforts needed to be overhauled to prevent another city from suffering such a disaster."

Some safety measures had previously been given to PG&E. (See that article here: Safety recommendations after San Bruno blast (photos))

The Board reported that a seam weld in the pipeline segment had ruptured on Sept. 9 in San Bruno, the day of the explosion.

Amazing story: San Bruno explosion: residents had smelled gas days before

They reported too that the seam was clearly deficient and it would not have passed "even a cursory visual inspection when a PG&E crew installed it in 1956."

PG&E had been ordered to inspect every one of its natural gas lines in California (See that article here: Breaking: San Bruno, PG&E must run survey on every California gas line)

The National Transportation Safety Board said that the weld flaw and PG&E's failure to inspect the pipe at any time during the 50 years since it had been built, made the rupture a foregone conclusion.

"It was not a question of if this pipeline would burst," said safety board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman during a hearing that had the agency announce its findings. "It was a question of when."

Other problems that PG&E had, included "poor record keeping, inadequate inspection programs and an integrity management program without integrity."

Then on the day of the San Bruno pipe explosion itself, reported the safety board, "a botched repair job set the disaster in motion and control-room operators failed to recognize what had happened for several precious minutes as the San Bruno neighborhood burned," reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Once the fire started, it took PG&E 90 minutes to cut the gas flowing to the fire.  Once that was done, it was found that 38 homes had been destroyed and 70 homes had suffered damage.

Horrific flames engulf San Bruno homes completely (video)

The safety board has recommended that "PG&E and other utilities install automatic shutoff valves in pipelines in populated areas."

But the proposal wants more than just the San Bruno area to have better valves. It asks for "Pipelines around the country be reconfigured to allow for testing for defects with in-line tools known as smart pigs. Currently, more than half of the nation's gas transmission lines cannot accommodate such tools because they are filled with narrow turns and bends," reports the San Francisco Chronicle

"It's too late for our city, but it's not too late for other communities," stated Mayor Jim Ruane to sfgate.com.

San Francisco mourned the loss of two of the victims, a mother and daughter, who were killed in the San Bruno explosion. (See here for that article San Francisco mourns loss Jacqueline and Janessa Greig after San Bruno fire)