An explosion apparently caused when a construction crew hit a gas line destroyed three buildings in Ashland, north of Hayward, Thursday morning and left six people with injuries, the extent of which are not yet known.
A construction crew, including someone operating a small excavator, can be seen in a neighbor’s doorbell camera footage, doing work outside of a home on the 800 block of East Lewelling Boulevard, a residential street in the unincorporated area of Ashland, near Interstate 238 in Alameda County.
The home suddenly explodes, and the across-the-street neighbor can be heard on the video saying, “The neighbor’s house just exploded!” (See the raw version here at KTVU, via neighbor Brittany Moldonado, who shared the video with multiple outlets.)
The explosion happened around 9:38 am, and PG&E crews were reportedly already on the scene because the construction crew had ruptured the gas line about two hours earlier, as the Chronicle reports.
PG&E said it was informed at 7:35 am that the crew had damaged an underground gas line, and it dispatched personnel to the scene who reportedly shut the gas off at 9:25 am. The explosion then occurred 10 minutes later.
Six people were reportedly injured in the blast, which also caused a three-alarm fire that included two homes and a workshop. Nearby properties were also reportedly evacuated as a precaution.
This is a developing story.
Jay Barmann
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