Fire Injuries

PG&E Awaits Decision on Fines as Bay Area Continues to Deal with Safety Issues in Wake of 2010 San Bruno Explosion

August 23, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

As we approach the third anniversary of the September 9, 2010, gas line explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed and damaged more than 50 homes, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility whose gas lines exploded, has yet to complete an overhaul of its gas system in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Bloomberg, the California Public Utilities Commission, which is the state agency responsible for regulating PG&E, also has yet to determine a punishment for the fiery catastrophe but expects to make a decision by the end of this year.

Utility’s Bill for Disaster Yet to be Tallied
Should the CPUC levy a $2.25 billion fine – commission staff recommended that penalty last month – PG&E’s total bill for the disaster would come to $4 billion, including funds already spent on infrastructure repairs and safety upgrades, according to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Earley. In the meantime, the utility and its shareholders are concerned that the CPUC-imposed fine could push PG&E into its second bankruptcy in 12 years.

Concern over PG&E’s financial health notwithstanding, much work remains to be done on the Bay Area’s gas line network, with many infrastructure and safety issues that were raised by the explosion still unresolved or whose fixes are a work in progress. And, according to a recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle, PG&E has not been forthcoming enough on disclosing problems concerning transmission lines in its system and has employed records with errors to document maintenance. With natural gas such a volatile element and with the high-use winter months fast approaching, a less-than-safe gas network and an error-prone utility maintaining that system is hardly a reassuring combination for residents of San Bruno and other Bay Area communities to contemplate.

Poor Record-Keeping Bedevils Gas Network Still in Need of Key Fixes
Inaccurate records were a key factor behind the September 2010 disaster in San Bruno. PG&E failed to accurately describe the failed gas line’s characteristics, which in turn led to the utility not conducting tests that would have revealed the gas line’s fatal flaws. Furthermore, PG&E’s erroneous or outdated records led the utility to run a gas line at a pressure level that was dangerously too high for another urban area on the Peninsula. Indeed, government investigators have found that PG&E has inaccurate or even nonexistent records for much of the more than 1,000 miles of gas transmission lines in its system. These fundamental lapses in record-keeping procedures have come to light in the context of revelations that PG&E workers have found significant stretches of gas pipes with faulty seams in a major connector line on the Peninsula – contrary to what records kept by the company asserted – which could result in a major explosion similar to the one that rocked San Bruno three years ago.
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Cause of Limo Fire Still Unknown as Calls for Regulation Increase

May 9, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Much of the nation has undoubtedly heard of the limousine fire that took the lives of 5 individuals, injuring the remaining 4 others who were also passengers on this past Sunday. Just yesterday, our Brod Firm Injury Blog wrote on the basics of the incident, providing a brief narrative of the incident. Authorities continue to investigate what may have caused the accident and if there was any fault or negligence on the part of the driver, or limousine company.

The incident occurred on the San Mateo Bridge as the party of nine, were making their way to a hotel in Foster City. The driver, Orville Brown of Limo Stop Inc. of San Jose, recalls the passengers tapping on the partition separating him from the passengers. There seems to have been miscommunication however, as Brown mistook what his passengers were saying through the partition window and over loud music that was playing in the vehicle. Urgent knocking finally alerted him to a problem before he pulled over and got out of the car. Several women were able to escape through the partition window and it seems the fire prevented escape through the rear doors.

Cause of Fire

San Francisco/Oakland Fire Injury Attorney on Fire Safety & Injury Law Following Brazilian Nightclub Tragedy

January 30, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

It is hard to imagine the fear associated with a massive fire. When you add a crowded setting in to the smoke and flames, it becomes a moment of true panic. We’ve been thinking about those moments as we follow the unfolding story of the recent nightclub fire in Brazil. The team at our Oakland fire injury law firm has also been asking a question we imagine is on many of our readers’ minds – could a similar fire tragedy happen here?

Fire Officials Say More Stringent Laws and Regulations Make Bay Area Clubs Safer

As part of their coverage of the fire that claimed more than 230 lives in Santa Maria, Brazil, The Oakland Tribune spoke to local fire officials about efforts to prevent similar tragedies in the Bay Area. Mindy Talmadge, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson, emphasized that fire tragedies are preventable. Along with officials from other local communities, she cited stricter laws and more stringent enforcement efforts aimed at preventing such an incident in our region. California requires that new commercial buildings contain alarms, sprinkler systems, and working fire extinguishers, none of which were present in the Brazilian club. Fire officials monitor occupancy limits and make sure facilities have multiple unlocked exits, with the city of San Jose requiring one exit for every fifty people in a nightclub. Additionally, pyrotechnic shows such as those that sparked the recent blaze and the 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire that caused 100 deaths, are rare in Bay County, usually only permitted in large venues, and closely monitored by firefighters before, during, and after the show.

Fire Safety Following Fatal Home Fire in Ingleside Heights

December 7, 2012 | Gregory J. Brod

Our San Francisco fire injury law firm knows that home fires are a very real danger that can cause death or serious injury. A harsh reminder of this threat came to the Ingleside Heights neighborhood this week when a fire claimed the life of sixty-one year old Deane Wernet on Wednesday night. According to a report in The San Francisco Chronicle , the blaze burned much of the top floor of the residence at 65 Saint Charles Avenue. Wernet moved to San Francisco from Ohio, where she grew up as one of thirteen siblings. She worked as a waitress and also made jewelry and other pieces of art. Authorities are still investigating the fire, but they do not believe foul play was involved.

Home Fires: Statistics & Causes

Home fires are the single most common disaster nationwide, a fact that headlines the American Red Cross’s Fire Safety Fact Sheet. During the year prior to the info sheet’s compilation, a whopping 93% of the disasters that the Red Cross responded to nationwide were fire related. Even more disturbing, fire safety appears to be on a negative trend with the number of home fires rising eight percent since the year 2000. Fires cause more American deaths annually than all types of natural disasters combined, with a home fire being reported every eighty seconds in 2006 and someone dying every 204 minutes due to a home fire. Despite these statistics, only 26% of families have planned and practiced a fire escape plan.