Coroners examine remains from California gas blast
Coroners yesterday examined skeletal remains found in the charred rubble of homes levelled by a natural gas explosion, as authorities sought to account for four people missing three days after the blast.
The official death toll from the explosion and ensuing firestorm that engulfed dozens of homes in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno on Thursday night stood at four yesterday, said Robyn Thaw, a spokeswoman for San Mateo County.
The scorched shells of suburban San Francisco homes sat empty Saturday as hundreds of people waited for investigators to let them return to the scene of a deadly gas line explosion and fire.
Two people are unaccounted for, in addition to the four dead, authorities said Saturday. Homes crumbled under a layer of white ash as crews tried to restore basic services such as water to those still standing and make sure there was no further danger from the ruptured pipe.
"We want to make sure that the gas lines are safe," San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said.
Some residents were allowed back into a limited area to retrieve belongings, but Ruane said he doubts any will be able to return permanently Saturday.
A group of local, state and federal officials toured the damaged area and described a ghost-town full of remnants of cars melted in driveways and pieces of houses, some left with just the chimney standing. Nearly 40 homes were destroyed and seven severely damaged, while dozens of other homes suffered less severe damage in the fire that sped across 15 acres.
At least 50 people, some critically, and crews keep searching the wreckage for signs that anyone else was caught in the blaze.
Emergency workers walk through an area of burned homes in San Bruno, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. On Thursday, a gas line rupture caused a large explosion that killed at least four people and leveled dozens of homes.
An emergency worker walks through an area of burned homes in San Bruno, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. On Thursday, a gas line rupture caused a large explosion that killed at least four people and leveled dozens of homes.
Federal authorities are probing a natural gas pipeline and how it was maintained as they investigate the thunderous line explosion and raging inferno that devastated this suburban San Francisco neighborhood. City leaders called for a town hall meeting Saturday to start San Bruno's healing process.
Officials were trying to determine what led up to the blast that killed at least four people, injured dozens of others and raised questions about the safety of similar lines that crisscross towns across America.
"It looks like a moonscape in some areas," Fire Chief Dennis Haag said Friday.
At least 50 people were hurt, with seven suffering critical injuries in the explosion Thursday evening that left a giant crater and laid waste to dozens of 1960s-era homes in the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay. Authorities had no reports of anyone still missing or unaccounted for.
Fire crews work on the remains of homes damaged by a massive fire in a mostly residential neighborhood in San Bruno, Calif., Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. Fire crews tried to douse the remnants of an enormous blaze and account for the residents of dozens of homes Friday after a gas line ruptured and an explosion ripped through in a neighborhood near San Francisco.
Maria Shriver, First Lady of California, right, shakes hands with volunteer Helen Habeeb of the Lions Club at an evacuation center in San Bruno, Calif., Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. Fire crews doused the remnants of an enormous blaze and accounted for the residents of dozens of homes Friday after a gas line ruptured and an explosion ripped through in a neighborhood near San Francisco, killing at least four people
Investigators in San Francisco are today trying to determine the cause of the devastating blast that claimed the life of six people and injured 50 more after a natural gas pipeline exploded.
More than 50 buildings were razed to the ground after the massive explosion triggered intense fires which tore through the San Bruno suburb.
Around 39 people were injured by the blast and flames were visible several miles away from San Francisco International Airport.
San Bruno Fire Captain Charlie Barringer told the L.A. Times: 'I thought a 747 had landed on us. It shook our station right to its foundation.'
Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, serving as acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Asia, declared a state of emergency in the Crestmoor district and said the blaze was 75% contained.
'We don't know what caused [the rupture], we will find out soon,' Maldonado said in a news conference near the scene.
Fireball plumes from rises from a San Francisco surburb after a gas explosion killed one person injured 25 people.
Just charred blackened trunks of trees give indication of the forestation once stood.
Remnants of charred chimney stacks are all reminded of homes in the streets in San Bruno.
Six people killed and more than 50 buildings destroyed after gas explosion tears through San Francisco suburb
Investigators in San Francisco are today trying to determine the cause of the devastating blast that claimed the life of six people and injured 50 more after a natural gas pipeline exploded.
More than 50 buildings were razed to the ground after the massive explosion triggered intense fires which tore through the San Bruno suburb.
Around 39 people were injured by the blast and flames were visible several miles away from San Francisco International Airport.
San Bruno Fire Captain Charlie Barringer told the L.A. Times: 'I thought a 747 had landed on us. It shook our station right to its foundation.'
Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, serving as acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Asia, declared a state of emergency in the Crestmoor district and said the blaze was 75% contained.
'We don't know what caused [the rupture], we will find out soon,' Maldonado said in a news conference near the scene.
Gay Couples going to Federal Court.Majority like marriage be a heterosexual couple and not same sex. Marriage should potential have children unlike same sex marriage which adoption of children will cause other legal issues.“Our founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they heard that the Constitution guarantees the right to redefine marriage. This is absurd.”
Thousands of same-sex couples await the outcome of the case
Americans could be forced to accept the legality of “gay marriage” in all 50 states of the union, depending on the outcome of an historic federal court battle that began in California yesterday.
The hearing in San Francisco — which was supposed to have been shown on YouTube before a decision by the Supreme Court to block the video feed — comes after 52 per cent of Californians voted to ban same-sex unions in 2008 with a ballot named Proposition 8.
The measure — which annulled a previous decision by the Californian Supreme Court and resulted in a change to the state’s constitution to read that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognised” — provoked street protests in Los Angeles and accusations that the initiative had been largely funded by the Mormon Church.
Proposition 8 also invalidated the unions of thousands of same-sex couples who had already wed in the Golden State.
Opponents of Proposition 8 now claim that the measure violates the higher authority of the US Constitution because it discriminates against gays. Vaughn Walker, a federal court judge, has agreed to hear the case, based on his opinion that “gay marriage” is a constitutional issue.
By taking the issue to a federal level there is much to lose for both sides. If the case gets passed up to the US Supreme Court in Washington — as expected — the ultimate ruling will be final.
It could result in legalised same-sex unions across the US in spite of the majority being against them, an outcome that would heighten America’s deep cultural divisions. Alternatively, the issue could be taken off the agenda permanently, with gays denied the opportunity to “marry” for the foreseeable future.
Supporters of Proposition 8 say that the case should never have been heard by a federal court. “This lawsuit is an attempt by Judge Walker to put the voters of California on trial and it’s wrong,” said Brian Brown, director of the National Organisation for Marriage, which opposes same-sex unions.
“Our founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they heard that the Constitution guarantees the right to redefine marriage. This is absurd.”
Supporters of same-sex unions say that the case will be an opportunity to enlighten the public. “Discrimination hurts us and doesn’t help anyone,” said Jennifer Pizer, Director of Lambda Legal’s national marriage project. “The trial will offer a chance for the public to listen to the expert witnesses on both sides .” Ms Pizer added that “people have so many misconceptions and misunderstandings about gay people and what sexual orientation is all about”.
The court case comes after several high-profile setbacks for gay unions in America. On Thursday, New Jersey rejected a Bill authorising civil unions, as did New York state a few weeks earlier.
Only five US states today permit civil unions: Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire.
California's ban on gay marriage goes to trial on Monday in a federal case that plaintiffs hope to take all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and overturn bans throughout the nation.
Victory for gay rights groups in the Supreme Court, which might not choose to take the case if it is appealed that far, would make marriage a fundamental constitutional right without exception and overturn laws and state amendments limiting marriage to a man and a woman in 40 states.
A loss in the top court, two ranks above the action that starts on Monday, would derail efforts to win in state courts that have been a hallmark of the gay rights movement thus far.
The case begins in a San Francisco court presided over by District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, who clearly enjoyed preliminary sessions, joking with lawyers between barrages of pointed questions.
The United States is divided on gay marriage. It is legal in only five states, although most of those, and the District of Columbia, approved it last year.
The approval of California's Prop 8 in November 2008 was a sweet victory for social conservatives in a state with a liberal, trend-setting reputation and showed off the resounding success conservatives have had at the ballot box on the issue.
California's top court had legalized gay marriage in the summer of 2008, months before Prop 8 passed.
Gay rights lawyers in the case describe their battle as a continuation of the fight against racist laws that had stopped whites and blacks from marrying. Marriage is a fundamental constitutional right and, in addition, gays and lesbians deserve special protection from discrimination, they say.
The lawyers defending the ban say long traditions limit marriage to heterosexual couples and that a state, without malice, can be cautious about changing the institution. Heterosexual couples can have children, which society needs to continue, they add.
While a court battle to the Supreme Court would stretch over years, the trial beginning on Monday may take only two weeks.
GAY PARENTS
"Issues about parents and children and the role of child rearing will be central to this case," said Joan Hollinger, a lecturer in family law at the University of California, Berkeley.
The lack of societal acceptance of same-sex marriages was a problem for children of those relationships -- an argument for allowing gay marriage, she said.
Ted Olson and David Boies, two high-powered lawyers who faced off over the legality of George W. Bush's election win as U.S. president against Al Gore in 2000, have joined forces in an odd-couple team fighting for gay marriage.
Andrew Koppelman, a professor of constitutional law at Northwestern University, said an appeal is certain no matter who wins in court in San Francisco.
If the appeals court were to side with the ban, the Supreme Court would probably leave it, but a victory by the gay rights advocates in the appeals court would force the Supreme Court to act, since it could not ignore such a momentous change.
"There is no way to keep this out of the Supreme Court if they win," said Koppelman, who has written books arguing in favor of same-sex marriage but sees this push as ill-timed due to the composition of the nine-member top court.
"Who are going to be your five votes on the Supreme Court? I have trouble getting to one."
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked the Northern California city of Eureka on Saturday, snapping power lines, toppling chimneys, knocking down traffic signals, shattering windows and prompting the evacuation of at least one apartment building.
There were no reports of major injuries, but the temblor, which struck at 4:27 p.m. about 33 miles southwest of the coastal city of 26,000, was powerful enough to send people running into the streets, some fearing a tsunami.
Centered offshore about 13 miles deep, the quake was felt as far north as central Oregon, as far south as Santa Cruz and as far east as Reno, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
"It was a monstrous one," said Phil Burns, owner of Mity Nice Bakery Cafe Restaurant in Eureka, which is about 80 miles south of the Oregon border. "Usually, they're sharp, but this one was very wiggly. It was rolling in all directions."
In the south Eureka fishing village of King Salmon, the 10 seconds of shaking broke power lines and knocked out electricity throughout the isolated seaside community of about 750 people.
When it stopped, people gathered in the street. Some were visibly distraught. Shouts of "You all right?" were heard. Then car engines began revving up as residents raced to the only access road to the closest higher ground, the 150-foot-high Bell Hill, in case of a tsunami, said William Bowman, a resident. None materialized, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Residents of Northern California coastal communities have reason to worry about tsunamis. In 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake off the Alaskan coast sent a catastrophic tsunami to Crescent City, north of Eureka, killing 11 people.
On Saturday, 25,000 customers lost power, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Water and gas lines were also disrupted.
Frayed nerves were evident throughout the Humboldt County region as dusk fell. Rooms at Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, 15 miles north of Eureka, were in the dark, and patients in robes were sitting in the hallway. Generators provided only enough power to keep vital machinery working, said nursing supervisor Annie Conkler.
"Everyone's shaken, but fine," she said, adding that there were no patients with quake-related injuries coming into the emergency room.
At Myrtle Avenue Pet Center on Hubbard Lane in Eureka, owner Melanie Noe spent the evening picking up shampoo bottles and shattered dog bowls. The only other casualties were the cats' nerves, she said.
On the other side of town, lamps and dishes crashed down at Antiques and Goodies, causing a couple to run out of the store, while two women took cover under a table. "We've been through a lot of earthquakes, but I can't recall there ever being any this bad," said store owner Sandra Hall.
To the south, floodlights fell at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds, and windows shattered in Ferndale. Farther south, in Redway, shoppers abandoned their carts in a grocery store and raced to their cars.
State officials said authorities in the county have not asked for additional assistance from Sacramento.
"It looks like they will be able to handle it on their own," said Kelly Huston, a spokesman for the California Emergency Management Agency. "Our big concern now is aftershocks."
At least 10 aftershocks were reported in the hours after the temblor, the strongest of them registering 4.2.
Richard Allen, a UC Berkeley seismologist, said the area where the earthquake occurred was in the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three tectonic plates collide: the Pacific, North American and Juan de Fuca. It is one of the most seismically active parts of the San Andreas fault system that runs through the state.
"Although 6.5 is a large event, it is not uncommon there by any means," said Richard Buckmaster, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist.
The last major quakes in the offshore region, Buckmaster said, were magnitude 7.2 and 6.6 temblors in June 2005.
