San Bruno explosion sparks inferno

In a frightening conflagration possibly sparked by a broken 24-inch gas main, a massive fire in San Bruno on Thursday destroyed dozens of homes in the upscale hillside community, killed at least three people, injured an unknown number of others and sent scores of residents fleeing as firefighters battled the ferocious blaze.

Motorists from nearby Highway 280 and eyewitnesses described the flames reaching as high as 60 feet into the air — shown on live television images — after the huge fireball ignited with a sudden explosion in the packed residential community a few miles from San Francisco International Airport.

Yasmine Kury, who lives in the apartment complex near the fire's origin, saw black smoke drift over Highway 280 after a thunderous explosion rocked the Crestmoor community about 6:15 p.m.

"We heard it and felt it and everyone ran out of the building," Kury said. "It was a just a huge explosion."

The noise was so deafening that residents at first thought a plane had crashed, but Pacific Gas & Electric Co. officials initially said a 2-foot-wide natural gas pipeline had erupted, fueling flames that quickly devoured homes and forced a large evacuation. PG&E later said it could not confirm that the cause was sparked by a pipeline explosion.

Two brothers, Bob and Ed Pellegrini, live near the house at the center of the explosion. As the ground shook, they thought an earthquake had rattled the Bay Area. Then they saw flames outside their. -via-