FRESNO, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. investigators were at the scene Saturday of a natural gas pipeline blast at a sheriff's gun range, as four of the 11 people injured in the explosion were released from the hospital.
The victims include two Fresno County sheriff's deputies, a public works employee and eight jail inmates, according to sheriff's spokesman Tony Botti.
The deputies and two of the inmates were released from hospitals. The public works employee and an inmate were in critical condition, with the latter's condition considered life-threatening, Botti said.
The explosion Friday of a PG&E pipe occurred at the Fresno County sheriff's gun range while the county employee was using a front-loader to build a dirt berm to confine gunfire to the range, sheriff's officials said.
A group of county jail inmates was doing cleanup work about 50 feet away, Botti said.
The explosion sent flames towering over Highway 99 and warped 400 feet of railway line, shutting both down.
It was not clear whether the front-loader was being used to dig at the time of the explosion, fire and sheriff's officials said.
PG&E's natural gas operations have been under scrutiny since a fiery 2010 pipeline blast killed eight people in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno. National Transportation Safety Board investigators blamed faulty safety practices by PG&E and lax oversight by state regulators for that blast.
