An employee of the Southern California Gas Company was killed and 15 injured when a gas pipeline explosion destroyed a house in Murrieta on Monday.
Firefighters were sent to a gas line break in the 23,500 blocks of the wooden horse track shortly before 11:00 am, according to Murrieta Fire and Rescue's deputy fire chief, David Lantzer.
They discovered a leak in a gas line and SoCalGas was called to the scene, said Lantzer. Crews arrived just after 11:20
The explosion occurred about 50 minutes after their arrival, killing one of the workers who responded.
"We are extremely saddened by the loss of one of our employees today during this incident," Public Service spokesman Randon Lane told a news conference this afternoon.
The employee has not yet been identified, pending notification of the victim's family.
Fifteen people were also injured and are currently undergoing medical assessment, according to Lantzer. He did not provide information on their conditions, nor did he specify how many had been transported to local hospitals.
Preliminary information released earlier indicated that another worker had been injured and a resident may have gone missing before officials reported on the incident at 3 pm briefing.
The residents had just moved into the house a week or two ago, according to a neighbor.
"It's heartbreaking," said the woman. "For that to happen, it's atrocious."
The house, located at the corner of Wooden Horse Trail and Spinning Wheel Drive, was shaved in the explosion, reduced to piles of burnt rubble. The roof was destroyed, as well as almost all the walls, showed the Sky5 video on the scene. Debris littered the yard and the street and some nearby houses also appeared to have been damaged.
Firefighters extinguish the water above the charred wreck for at least two hours before the flames are completely extinguished.
A resident told KTLA that the explosion caused tremors in the neighborhood, which she confused with an earthquake.
"It was like a big shake, and I thought it was an earthquake because of all the earthquakes we have known," she said, referring to the recent two big shakes and thousands of replicas at the Ridgecrest center. the Southland.
Clinton Keith Road was closed indefinitely between Smith Ranch Road and Nutmeg Street for "public safety" reasons, according to the Murrieta Police Department. Residents will not be allowed to enter the area during the closure.
The incident is under investigation and no additional information has been published.
