Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tragedy in San Bruno, California, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010

Firefighters investigate a massive crater at the scene of a gas main explosion September 10, 2010 in San Bruno,California. Getty Images / Justin Sullivan 

San Bruno fire: Consumer advocate, Jacqueline Greig, worked on gas transmission safety, among dead

September 12th, 2010 1:41 am PT
Ed Walsh
SF Headlines Examiner

San Bruno fire: Consumer advocate, Jacqueline Greig, who worked on gas transmission safety, among dead

Jacqueline Greig, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa were among those killed in the explosion and fire in San Bruno Thursday evening.

Greig was a San Francisco native and worked for the California Public Utilities Commission for 21 years and was a member of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.

KCBS radio is reporting that Grieg had worked on improving gas transmission safety.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Grieg worked in the CPUC's Division of Ratepayer Advocates, a small unit within the CPUC that advocates for consumer rights pertaining to natural gas regulations, according to co-workers.

"This is so difficult for us because we're such a small group," her co-worker Pearlie Sabino told the Mercury News. "She does a lot of cases related to natural gas, that's the irony of it."

Janessa Greig attended St. Cecelia Catholic School in San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reports and was the student body president. They are survived by Greig's husband, James and the couple's other daughter, Gabriella, 16.

A vigil will be held in the Greig's memory at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 19, at St. Cecilia's Church in the Sunset District.

Early Saturday evening, September 11, San Bruno City officials revised the death toll to seven, with six missing, but late Saturday evening they revised the figures again to four dead and six missing. City officials plan another press conference on Sunday at 8 a.m.

Officials say they are having a difficult time tallying the number of fatalities because the fire burned so hot and madeidentification difficult. In some cases, authorities have found just bone fragments and were unable to immediately determine if the bones were human or animal.

Meantime, St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, which specializes in burn injuries, says it is treating four burn patients from the San Bruno fire. All are in critical condition. One has burns on 40% of the body. They other three were burned on half of their bodies.

On Saturday, US Senator Barbara Boxer (D) toured the fire area and vowed to step up inspections of gas transmission lines in residential areas.

The Bay Citizen on Saturday cited a 2007 PG&E report that found the risk of a pipeline failure on the part of the gas transmission pipe that exploded into flames Thursday as "unacceptably high."

Click here for slideshow photos that were taken at the height of the fire on Thursday.
 
Click here for some photos that were taken early Friday morning of the devastated neighborhood.
Related articles:
San Bruno fire update: National Pipeline Mapping System overwhelmed as people check for gas lines
Huge crater in San Bruno where gas pipeline exploded (slideshow photos, raw video
Slideshow photos: San Bruno, California fire, new report of 4-6 dead, 38 homes destroyed

No comments: