PG&E transformer blast in Bernal Heights hurts 2
Two men were hurt when an underground Pacific Gas and Electric Co. transformer in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights exploded Saturday morning, according to one of the injured men.
Robert Antonelli, 55, was at the window of his Heyman Avenue home about 7:45 a.m. talking to a friend, Manuel Cruz, 34, of Daly City, who was standing outside, when he heard what sounded like a firecracker’s wick sizzling.
“And the next thing, kaboom,” Antonelli said. “It exploded like a bomb. It blew things off my shelf. I flew back into my bed. Debris flew back into my room.”
Antonelli said Cruz, who was standing next to the transformer, was knocked out, and both men were taken to San Francisco General Hospital. Antonelli said he was treated for light burns on his face and released, but Cruz was more seriously burned and remained hospitalized.
The hospital did not immediately return a call seeking information about Cruz’s condition.
PG&E spokesman Matt Nauman confirmed that two men were injured after an equipment failure that occurred while a utility crew was at Wool Street and Eugenia Avenue, working to fix a power failure that began about 7:30 a.m.
That intersection is about six blocks from Antonelli’s home. Nauman said PG&E crews helped the victims, but he did not know how the crews learned there were two people injured.
PG&E is investigating the cause of the incident, Nauman said. The power failure affected about 4,000 customers initially. Power was restored to all but about 58 customers by 7:30 p.m.
Antonelli, his voice still raspy from inhaling smoke, said he’s been worried about the transformer just outside his window since an overhead transformer exploded down his block last September.
“They assured me this one ain’t going to blow up,” he said. “I told them there are kids walking by here all the time, my grandchildren are here, people walking by with strollers. Something needs to be done.”
Nauman did not have any information immediately available about the previous explosion.