[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 15, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H6734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRAGEDY IN SAN BRUNO, CALIFORNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday September 9, 2010, at a few 
minutes before 6:30, life changed forever in San Bruno, California. The 
first view from my district office led one of my staffers to believe a 
plane had crashed in the hills. After all, San Francisco International 
is in my district and airline jets fly over nearby San Francisco 
International Airport routinely passing over San Bruno every day.
  The flames shot up over 100 feet in the air. But after 15 minutes, 
the flames didn't subside. It was as if a giant torch had been placed 
on what is normally a verdant hillside.
  This was a distant view of the PG&E natural gas pipeline explosion. 
Closer up, the scene was horrific. Four confirmed dead. Scores of 
people hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns, some over 50 
percent of their bodies. And 6 days after this tragedy, three people 
are still missing. Thirty-seven homes were completely destroyed--
nothing but concrete pads left, or a weeping chimney, indicating what 
once had been. Twelve homes were standing shells and another 10 were 
damaged.
  We are at day six. The smoke has cleared. The ash has settled. And 
one thing is really very clear: the community of San Bruno rose 
together. Mayor Jim Ruane, City Manager Connie Jackson, Police Chief 
Neil Telford and Fire Chief Dennis Haag all showed extraordinary 
leadership and courage in bringing this community together and securing 
the flames within a box so that more homes were not destroyed and more 
lives destroyed as a result.
  But on other fronts, questions remain--in fact they are multiplying--
about the causes of this immense pain and suffering that has been 
visited upon San Bruno and surrounding areas. But no question--I repeat 
no question--has been more penetrating to me than asked by Sue Bullis a 
day after the explosion. I walked into the center that was set up to 
establish relief and support for the families and sitting at a table by 
herself looking distant was this woman. She looked at me and said she 
couldn't locate her mother-in-law, she couldn't locate her husband, she 
couldn't locate her son. Six days later, they still have not been 
found.
  The explosion was so hot that glass windshields on cars melted. Bones 
have been found. The blast epicenter functioned as a crematorium. And 
through it all, hour after hour, Sue Bullis, who lived at 1690 
Claremont, is hoping and praying for an answer. She lost her house. All 
her documents. She has nothing but hope. And now that hope will have to 
be converted to inner strength if she is to go on.
  I will help Sue get her documents, her insurance payments from PG&E, 
and I will try to ease her pain just as thousands of others are helping 
to ease the pain caused by this explosion. But nothing is going to 
relieve the pain that she has coping with the loss of three of her 
family members.
  On Friday, we will bury Jacqueline and Janessa Grieg. Ironically, 
Jacqueline Grieg worked at the California Public Utilities Commission 
in the gas pipeline area. Her daughter Janessa was an eighth grader at 
St. Cecilia School in San Francisco. She was also the student body 
president of that grammar school. On Saturday, we will bury Jessica 
Morales, the fiancee of a young man who is now in intensive care with 
50 percent of his body burned. Jessica was just coming into her own, 
finding her way, finding work and employment and opportunities at 
school. We have just found out that Elizabeth Torres, an 81-year-old 
mother who has two family members still in the burn unit, has passed 
away, and she too will be remembered as well.
  People are anxious to return to their homes, to retrieve those 
belongings that remain. Some may want to rebuild. A few may not. We 
face months and months of hard work, but at this moment, this very 
moment, I bow my head in silence for the family of Sue Bullis, 
Jacqueline Grieg, Janessa Grieg, Jessica Morales, and Elizabeth Torres.

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