Explosion sets homes ablaze near San Francisco

Sep 10, 2010 |

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An explosion near San Francisco International Airport set more than a dozen homes ablaze and sent people fleeing as it spread through a residential neighbourhood, witnesses said.

"I heard a sound like a low flying plane, then all of a sudden the house shook," said Tina DiIoia, who was with her baby in their condominium in the town of San Bruno, just south of San Francisco, when the explosion occurred about a half-mile away yesterday.

"Then there was another explosion. I went outside and there was debris falling from the air."

Local utility officials were investigating whether the source of the explosion was a large natural gas pipeline.

A towering font of flame continued to spout from the ground in what witnesses described as a massive "ball of fire."

Flames had spread to more than a dozen homes and people were being evacuated from areas downwide of the inferno.

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