Gas-line blast closes major highway, injures at least 15
Source: Chron
By SCOTT SMITH
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) A large gas pipeline exploded into a tower of fire Friday in Central California, closing both directions of a major highway in the region and injuring at least 15 people, four of them critically, authorities said.
It was not clear what caused the explosion at the Fresno County Sheriff's gun range that brought traffic in the area to a halt. But authorities say it occurred while a county equipment operator was working with a jail inmate crew to expand a road on the range alongside heavily travelled Highway 99.
The flames shot well over 100 feet into the air, several witnesses said.
Four patients were being treated at Community Regional Medical Center's burn and trauma unit, spokeswoman Mary Lisa Russell said. Three of them are in critical condition and one is in serious condition, she said.
FULL story and more photos at link. Video: http://video.chron.com/?ndn.trackingGroup=90000&ndn.siteSection=houstonchron_hom_non_non_pp&ndn.videoId=28913189&freewheel=90000&sitesection=houstonchron_hom_non_non_pp&vid=28913189
Photo By Eric Paul Zamora/AP Pacific Gas & Electric crews are seen in the distance along N. Weber Avenue after a gas line was ruptured on Friday, April 17, 2015, in Fresno, Calif. The gas explosion closed both directions of a major highway in Central California and injured at least 15 people, four of them critically, authorities said Friday. (Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee via AP)
Read more: http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Gas-line-explosion-closes-California-injures-at-6207589.php
Demeter
(85,373 posts)It's time to end this hypocrisy.
forest444
(5,902 posts)Republicans like to think of these incidents as "one of those things that only happens in Mexico."
Of course, they say the same thing about political corruption. Just hopeless.