No Autographs, Please!

As you may or may not have heard, Rancho Cordova recently experienced a dramatic and fatal disaster. Specifically, a house exploded and it was about ten houses down from me. It was Christmas Eve and I was sitting on my living room floor doing some last minute wrapping. I then heard and felt two "BOOMS". Living practically ON the freeway, we hear little rattles here and there every so often as the diesel truck roar by but never anything as bad as what I had just experienced. This time it felt as if one of those trucks landed on my roof! I remember seeing the ceiling fans shake, the blades bouncing up and down a good six inches. I thought the fans were coming down from my ceiling. I immediately jumped up with my heart racing and ran through the house to see if something had exploded. Nothing. I continued out to the garage to see if my food storage had exploded. Nope. At this point, my thoughts turned to Paiute #10 and wondering "What in the hell are they doing over there?" maybe they had slammed the garage door or something and then I started to be concerned for Kristina, Ryan and the boys. I thought for sure something had happened on the premises as it felt like it had! By the time I made it outside, they were already standing on the street watching the people of Paiute flock to the scene of the disaster. The house was up in flames and smoke billowing from the site. I was only able to get two pictures as I didn't feel comfortable joining in the flock to the site. There were already enough people down there. Apparently it was a three alarm situation, meaning that at one time there were about 9-12 fire trucks (I forget how many per alarm - 3 or 4), cop cars, and ambulances. Emory, my other neighbor, came running back with news of a gas explosion and workers trying to shut the line off. At this point I was grateful our little duplexes were 100% electric! All those people with gas whatevers...they can have it all!

Due to the unknown, they were letting people out of the area but not in. Olson was blocked at Zinfandel. I was on my way out to the big yellow house for Christmas Eve festivities and was a little hesitant about leaving without the proper provisions...and my nicely wrapped gifts! However, I hoped that things would be fine by the time I returned home and they were. Workers were there late that night removing debris. Christmas Day morning, a fire truck and cop car were down there.

As of now, the NTSB has retrieved everything they need to further their investigation as to how and why this happened. No one is able to say for sure what caused this to happen as everything is still under investigation. We should expect to see the final report in 6 - 12 months. I suspect PG&E won't be the innocent party in this event but I believe that in the end they will make sure everyone is taken care of...eh hem, Erin Brokovich anyone?

I'm happy to report that there is no damage to Paiute Place, at least from what I can see. My quiet little street isn't so quiet anymore due to the constant stream of looky loos. I'm hoping that will die down soon.

Here is a picture of the madness:

Also, for those of you who missed it, I was in the Sac Bee (I hate the Bee, but I'll take the fame where I can get it) and on the KCRA website:

SacBee: http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1499188.html

KCRA: http://www.kcra.com/news/18355105/detail.html