A Trauma Collage

Hello, Daniel Horowitz!

There is sealed court order in a court case between Joseph Lynch and Contra Costa County payoff fund where they spend your money to jail your students and kidnapped my sons.  But wait there is more - they killed my relatives in Utah. 

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The Suicide of Concord City Attorney Mark Coon - The Bennett / Coon Meeting in April 2012

I really liked Mark when we met, as they've said "One of the good guys", he was and his death was tragic, his kids will suffer, his widow will move forward.  The rest of us might survie the Battle of Giant REIT's who crave the barren lands of the Concord Naval Weapons Station.  Sale approved by Donald Rumsfeld who was in San Franciso a month or more after San Bruno Explosion on Sept 6th, 2010. 
 

Hello, Contra Costa County!

This is a template for a simple marketing or informational website. It includes a large callout called the hero unit and three supporting pieces of content. Use it as a starting point to create something more unique.

Sadest Tragic Self Destructing Career Moves ever

My personal connection to Wielsch wasn't obvious until someone in Concord reminded me about his fathers Nazi Prison Gaurd past.  Then I remembered how I knew Wielsch's - his father rented shop space a few doors down from shop on Cloverdale Ave Concord CA in 1981.
Butler emerged in the late 80s in the east county when he was an Antioch cop with Wielsch and Tanabe.  I met Officer Loius Lombardi with his gun drawn pointed at my head staying I was dealing drugs.  WTF
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Vultures via Culture

One day in 2010 or earlier friends revealed losses in real estate were sealed via a Bankruptcy. Later I learned it was Benny Chetcuti Jr. whose sister was married to Chirs Butler arrested in 2011 for stealing drugs siezed in drug raids via his pal Commander Normon Wielsch. W
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PG&E pleaded not guilty Monday

SAN BRUNO -- PG&E pleaded not guilty Monday to a new federal criminal indictment on felony charges linked to a fatal 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion here, and hours later, San Bruno officials requested that the state Public Utilities Commission preserve computer drives and digital data that could shed light on ties between the PUC and the utility it oversees.

The city of San Bruno, where eight people were killed in the pipeline explosion, says it's concerned that key emails, texts and other electronic documents, as well as paper documents, voice mails and handwritten notes could vanish amid a current effort by the PUC to swap out hard drives on its computers.

San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson, and senior adviser Craig Bettencourt leave the federal courthouse following a federal indictment given to PG&E in San Francisco, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. PG&E pleaded not guilty on Monday to a new federal criminal indictment on an array of felony charges connected to a fatal natural gas explosion in San Bruno that could lead to a fine of up to $1.13 billion. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group) ( Gary Reyes )

San Francisco-based PG&E is charged with 28 federal criminal counts, including obstruction of justice for allegedly impeding an investigation into the explosion and violations of the pipeline safety act that led to the explosion.

"Not guilty to all counts," Steven Bauer, an attorney for PG&E with law firm Latham & Watkins, said at the brief proceeding Monday before a federal magistrate at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Individual employees of PG&E have not been charged in the case, and PG&E executives did not appear at the hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hallie Hoffman, who appeared for the federal prosecution in the proceeding, said the utility faces a fine of up to $1.13 billion if convicted.

Following the hearing, San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson requested that federal prosecutors press for creation of a California pipeline safety trust to help improve natural gas pipes statewide, and to establish an independent monitor to oversee PG&E and the state Public Utilities Commission.

"PG&E has refused to step up and take full responsibility for the explosion," said Jackson, who expressed the city's support for the government prosecution.

San Bruno officials, in a letter to PUC Executive Director Paul Clanon, said it is essential that all electronic equipment, data and documents related to three ongoing investigations into the explosion be preserved and available for public inspection.

"Any failure to assure the preservation and protection of all paper and electronic documents related to these proceedings could form the basis of criminal or civil liability for destroying evidence or spoliation of evidence," Jackson wrote in the letter.

One of the federal criminal charges alleges that PG&E deliberately obstructed an investigation of the explosion by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Federal prosecutors also have charged PG&E with 27 alleged violations of pipeline safety rules.

"Based on all of the evidence we have seen to date and our review of the new indictment, we still do not believe that PG&E employees intentionally violated the federal Pipeline Safety Act," PG&E spokesman Greg Snapper said after the hearing. "Even where mistakes were made, employees were acting in good faith."

Separately, San Bruno pointed out that a series of emails between officials with the PUC and PG&E show a cozy relationship between the two organizations.
The latest suggestions of an improper relationship are linked to a cancelled symposium on gas safety sponsored by the state government. PG&E worked closely with the PUC on the symposium, which was canceled after San Bruno officials brought the meeting to light, calling it a "dog-and-pony show" aimed at presenting PG&E in a favorable light.

"This is appalling," Jackson said. "It was our protests that caused the cancellation of that symposium."

The symposium flap is one of numerous instances that suggest close ties between the PUC and PG&E. In some of the emails, PUC President Michael Peevey offered public relations advice to PG&E.
The emails involving the PUC have prompted numerous critics to demand Peevey's ouster.

But in a meeting last week with the editorial board of this newspaper, Gov. Jerry Brown expressed support for Peevey, describing him as "a very effective leader; he gets things done."

San Bruno says that the PUC, under Peevey's leadership, has fostered close ties with PG&E that are improper. "PG&E is pulling the strings at the PUC," Jackson said.

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US Grand Jury Indictments and Related Cases

US Grand Jury Indictments and Related Cases 

PG&E 

http://www.justice.gov/usao/can/news/2014/docs/PG&E%20-%20Superseding%20Indictment.pdf

http://gaspipelineexplosions.blogspot.com/2014/08/usdoj-pg-indictment-obstruction-of.html

 

CNET Scandal 

Attorney Mary Nolan 

http://www.justice.gov/usao/can/news/2012/2012_09_18_nolan.charged.press.html

http://www.justice.gov/usao/can/news/2012/2012_09_18_nolan.charged.press.html

Norman Wielsch, the former Commander of the Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team

http://www.justice.gov/usao/can/news/2013/2013_05_22_wielsch.sentenced.press.html

 

What a PI said about case - He doesn't know the DA offices are involved.  

http://antiochherald.com/2013/05/writer-says-public-should-be-concerned-about-police-misconduct/

Senior Contra Costa County Law Enforcement Official and Concord Private Investigator Indicted

http://www.fbi.gov/sanfrancisco/press-releases/2011/senior-contra-costa-county-law-enforcement-official-and-concord-private-investigator-indicted

 

 

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Kill Pete? You Be The Judge

Contra Costa Watch - Tragedies, Arson and Corruption 

Kill Pete? You Be The Judge

Back in 2000 was the beginning of one of many CNET Tactical Campaigns run on me. The Danville Police pulled out their Civil Rights Violation Handbook and turned the page to "How to violate the constitution without being caught!"

They then unleashed then Norman Wielsch who was the then supreme Commander of Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce with pals Chris Bulter, Norman Wielsch, Louis Lombardi and Stephen Tanabe plus many others far too many incidents have occurred.

I actually have over one hundred police reports or incidents going back to 1980, on July 20th, 2011 I was blinded via another vehicle where in seconds I'm being pushed into oncoming traffic but turned a hard right into the traffic island.


But that was the seventy vehicle destroyed since Chris Butler arrived at my house in Sept 2004.


In Mid August 2004 my F-250 truck bursts into flames, all over my blog I've mentioned this accident saying it was arson. My oil plug was down 2 1/2 turns flowing out like Chocolate Milk.


A month later Gary Vinson Collins is beating me in my house. Collins was actually a building inspector for the Town of Danville, then the Kinder Morgan Gas Pipeline Explosion, then Alicia Driscoll kills her daughter near Petaluma CA, then the key witness to that fire dies, then I nearly die from what I've said was poison.


Ten years later (2014) on June 5th, July 2nd and July 26th there were three distinct attempts to run me down. In the middle a good friends tires were shot out with I'm suspecting was SABOT round. The only information available is the insurance company held his totaled car for nearly 45 days. That would be long enough for FBI forensics to analyze a tire where the tire was gone - not ripped up from a blowout but completely gone.

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The Oakland Temple ► Danville Stake ► Wards {Alamo, Danville & San Ramon}

By PETE BENNETT - Contra Costa Watch EMAIL


Events in or near the Danville Stake under the Oakland Mormon Temple

Suicide: 

• Valle Vista Danville CA

Alamo Ward 1st and 2nd 

• Patricia Noel - Alamo 2nd member husband was expert in SCADA Control Systems which was the root of the PG&E Explosion 
• Death Location: San Ramon 
• Jurisdiction: CCSO or San Ramon Police Department 
• Connected the CNET Scandal or Dirty DUI
• Year: 2006 COD: Suicide by medication
• Nathaniel Greenan ~ Alamo 1st father James Greenan is a member of Contra Costa Bar Association who in the past has prevented, thwarted and obstructed Bennett's litigation efforts.  One thing about Mormon's like Ernie Scherer who was quintessential whistleblower when you're in a stake you're in the stake for life.  Greenan's son was Murdered who would know Ernie Scherer III in prison for murdering his parents with sword which doesn't look good when Greenan's deceased son is holding a ceremonial sword as described and missing in the evidence used to convict Ernie Scherer.  
• Pete Bennett invited to join Alamo 1st via Chris Ivory but after Pete's long term friend Brian died hours after he was sweating up a storm after service. The poison I was given in 2005 manifested partly with heavy sweats and labored breathing.  I almost died in Nov 2005 but CCCMRC failed to heed my complaints that I was poisoned.  They should be decertified.  

San Ramon 

• Ernie Scherer Jr and Wife: Former members of San Ramon
  Death Location: Pleasanton  Year: 2010  COD: Murder 

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Contra Costa Murder Suicide Syndrome ~ A real dead man can't tell tales

By PETE BENNETT - Contra Costa Watch EMAIL
Phone: 510-460-5641
Posted:  

The Contra Costa Murder Suicide Syndrome leads in many directions, the suicide of Patricia Noel from Alamo 2nd Ward Alamo who being a 40 year member would known Nate Greenan, and would definitely know every republican candidate and officer holder such as Richard Rainey former FBI agent whose nephew Michael McNulty died in Humbolt County where the Coroner told me it looked like a stage scene.  

I told the Coroner that my 2004 Arson case was staged but still considered a story and the June 9th 2014 Bennett Murder Attempt near Nordstroms I took to the Walnut Creek City Council on June 17th where I spoke about the still missing police reports and what happened.  

In the Audience was a Contra Costa Times who has heard my comments numerous times but just like the 2004 truck explosion that paper doesn't want to touch my story.  On my blog there are cases where I suspect their employees have been murdered with very clever techniques. 

Contact Elisabeth Nardi at 925-952-2617. Follow her at Twitter.com/enardi10.

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Fatal blast bringing tight new rules or Better Investigators - Three persons near this fire deceased.

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WALNUT CREEK / Fatal blast bringing tight new rules / Lawmaker says buried utility lines need better marking

Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, June 11, 2005

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  Homeowner Enos Chabot, 2053 Doris Ave, Walnut Creek in his backyard where the back of his home erupted in flames from the gas line rupture. Most of his home was destroyed. Gas line explosion and fire that caused major damage near the intersection of newell ave. and south broadway. Event on 11/11/04 in Walnut Creek. Eric Luse / The Chronicle Photo: Eric Luse

After a Senate committee hearing Friday into November's fuel-line blast in Walnut Creek that killed five workers, state Sen. Tom Torlakson said he will push for tighter laws regulating how hazardous underground utilities are marked and how construction crews can avoid them.

Current methods of protecting utilities are "very ad hoc, and that's not right. That's not safe," Torlakson, D-Antioch, said after the two-hour meeting at Walnut Creek City Hall.

Workers who mark utilities may require special certification and should employ more advanced technology than they currently use, Torlakson said, echoing suggestions made by some speakers. He also suggested that fines levied for accidents may need to be heftier.

It was the first public hearing since the Nov. 9 blast, in which a backhoe operator installing an East Bay Municipal Utility District water main hit a buried fuel line, releasing a stream of gas ignited by nearby welders.

The catastrophe has prompted several investigations, a raft of lawsuits and calls for new laws. Officials from workplace safety regulator Cal/OSHA appearing at Friday's hearing said they would consider new laws and regulations after consulting a panel of state and industry experts next month.

"The thing that stands out about this incident is its disturbing simplicity," said Len Welsh, acting director of Cal/OSHA. "We need a system that is resilient to human performance errors."

Cal/OSHA last month blamed Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, saying it failed to mark a bend in its fuel line. It issued the firm two "willful" violations -- the stiffest possible penalty -- and fined it $140,000, while the utility district, the contractor and a mapping firm received "serious" citations.

Kinder Morgan officials, who say they properly marked the line and provided maps showing the bend that was struck, are appealing the ruling. Company officials did not attend the hearing, but sent a letter saying the firm -- which operates 10,000 miles of pipelines in 21 states -- is "retaining additional third-party expertise concerning line marking practices, " providing more training and education and buying "state of the art line locating equipment."

Currently, state law requires Bay Area excavators, before digging, to call a nonprofit service that in turn contacts the owners of any nearby underground pipelines and utilities. Those owners must locate and mark their lines or advise workers of their location. Should those workers approach the line, they must dig by hand to expose it and protect it.

But Torlakson, EBMUD General Manager Dennis Diemer and others asked why there are no rules specifying exactly when utility owners should, for example, use paint to mark the path of a line or dig "potholes" that expose the line from the surface.

Mark Breslin, executive director of the Engineering and Utility Contractors Association, which represents about 400 companies, said the Walnut Creek explosion was "only a symptom of a recurring and pervasive problem in marking utilities in the state."

Also at the meeting, state Fire Marshal Ruben Grijalva said his pipeline safety division was within two weeks of issuing its report on the Walnut Creek blast. He said his investigators also believe it was caused by "the line not being properly marked" and could seek fines up to $500,000.

"There was enough regulation and legislation in place so that this should not have happened," Grijalva said. "It just wasn't followed."

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PG&E Indictment - My Laptop with PG&E Data Stolen

By PETE BENNETT - Contra Costa Watch EMAIL
Phone: 510-460-5641


Reposted to Protect My Sons

Walnut Creek CA: On numerous occasions since the PG&E Fire I've been attacked on many fronts - PG&E knows my story, they've ignored my story and while everyone looks sideways Persons unknown have nearly killed me.  

The Contra Costa Times has letters between myself and Candidate for Office Eric Nunn, they know about the incidents spanning ten years - had they run the articles about the arson fire in 2004 or that my attorney was nearly killed in Walnut Creek which ended a lawsuit that would have led to Chris Butler and CNET.  

I am caught between attorneys, legal firms, arson cases, Federal Indictments and people on each side looking to terminate me.  Personally the US Attorney should consider RICO charges on whats happened to me with Walnut Creek Police Officers.  On this blog you'll find endless complaints about what has gone on for over 35 years.  

In 2005 someone came very close to flipping my truck and trailer but in 2011 someone did just that and my PG&E documents were breached - the roads lead to CNET, CCSO, Cities of Danville, Lafayette, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek plus threads over the Pittsburg.  

Any day the Seeno case will re-emerged which will leads to this story as Benny Chetcuti Jr. grew up near the San Bruno Fire which 

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PG&E indicted on criminal charges by federal grand jury in connection with San Bruno explosion

By George Avalos
Oakland Tribune

POSTED:   04/01/2014 06:01:42 PM PDT2 COMMENTS

UPDATED:   04/01/2014 08:22:05 PM PDT

SAN BRUNO -- Adding to the fallout from the deadly San Bruno pipeline blast, a federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted PG&E on criminal charges for violations of federal pipeline regulations.

The 12-count indictment alleges that PG&E knowingly and willfully violated the federal Pipeline Safety Act and its regulations between 2003 and 2010, culminating in the September 2010 explosion that killed eight people, injured 66 and destroyed 38 homes.

"The citizens of Northern California deserve to have their utility providers put the safety of the community first," U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said in a prepared release. "Today's indictment of PG&E for violating the minimum safety standards established by the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act reflects the company's failure to follow that very basic principle."

2010 FILE--- The gas pipe and behind it, the ditch caused by the PG&E gas explosion are investigated on Glenview Drive in San Bruno, Calif., on September 11, 2010. (LiPo Ching/Mercury News) ( LiPo Ching )

PG&E, which last week announced it had been warned that a criminal indictment was pending, said in a prepared release the charges have no merit and it will remain focused on improving the safety of its century-old natural gas system.

The utility has committed to spend $2.7 billion on safety related work, including upgrades and improvements to the natural gas system. In 2013, it opened a state-of-the-art gas control center in San Ramon.

Filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the indictment states that PG&E failed to properly identify potential threats to a gas pipeline beneath San Bruno, failed to gather relevant data that could have forestalled the explosion, maintained flawed records and didn't accurately assess the dangers related to the line.

PG&E faces a maximum penalty of $500,000 for each count, or a fine based on gains the company realized through a violation of the pipeline statutes or the loss caused to the victims. It's also possible, legal experts said last week, that some of the utility's gas pipeline operations could be forced into receivership and placed under the control of an independent authority as a result of the criminal prosecution.

The criminal charges resulted from a joint investigation by federal, state and local officials.

"Today's indictment is an important step in providing justice for the individuals, families and community devastated by the 2010 pipeline explosion and fire in San Bruno," state Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a prepared release. "As alleged in the indictment, PG&E knowingly and willfully failed to identify and evaluate threats to its transmission pipelines."

Following their investigations, state and federal regulators concluded that flawed record keeping and lax maintenance efforts were the primary contributors to the gas pipeline explosion.

In addition to the criminal charges, PG&E faces the prospect of a record-setting fine of up to $4 billion from the state Public Utilities Commission in connection with the lethal blast. The state regulatory agency is expected to announce its penalty this year.

"One of the worst natural gas disasters in American history was caused by PG&E's gross misconduct," San Bruno Mayor James Ruane said in response to the criminal charges. "Its executives should get the harshest penalty to prevent this from ever happening again."

Both the utility and its primary state regulator have failed to protect the public, said state Sen. Jerry Hill, a Democrat whose legislative district includes San Bruno. "PG&E and the PUC have failed to put the safety of the public first and we will not stop fighting until they do so."

The federal indictment alleges that San Francisco-based PG&E knew it had faulty records and was warned by employees, regulatory agencies, auditors and other experts about the deficiencies related to Line 132, the gas pipeline that exploded in San Bruno.

"Despite knowledge of these deficiencies, PG&E did not create a record-keeping system for gas operations that would ensure that pipeline records were accessible, traceable, verifiable, accurate and complete," it alleges.

Following the release of the criminal charges, PG&E CEO Anthony Earley issued a prepared statement describing the San Bruno blast as "a tragic accident."

"We've taken accountability and are deeply sorry," he said. "We have worked hard to do the right thing for victims, their families and the community, and we will continue to do so."

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Walnut Creek Gas Pipeline Explosion - The Dead Witness List

By PETE BENNETT - Contra Costa Watch EMAIL
Phone: 510-460-5641
Posted: 03/21/2014

Reposted to Protect My Sons

Walnut Creek CA: 

On Nov 9th, 2004 a Pipeline exploded when a high pressure fuel line exploded due to a punctured line via heavy equipment back hoe. This particular backhoe was weighs in at between 4-tons with 1 Ton Rock-breaker.  

This bucket did this? 

The accident was litigated, the verdict was in and the parties all came forward and testified right?  What surfaced after being personally targeted over for years but when Butler and Wielsch were arrested for stealing drugs from the Sheriff's evidence locker my prior research and litigation became highly valuable to the larger story. 



Related Articles: (Pending) 
The Missing Testimony
The Driscoll Murders what you've read is not true

Cal Fire Investigation
Pipe, Bucket and the Worm Hole Bullshit 

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Former SFPD Lt. Oberhoffer - Trail of bodies in S.F. flat

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Open Letter; CEO Anthony Early

Dear Mr. Early, 


We share a common suite of events - we are both arson victims.  The difference between our situations vastly different as my story leads to Police Officers, Attorneys, Private Investigators, a long unchecked investment scandal plus a slew of verifiable fires, kidnappings, arson cases, and sadly a few murders connected to your employees or vendors that are also connected to my world.  

During the PG&E Engagement I had several attempts to take my life via accidents, beatings, muggings and while around town. I've been homeless off and on since 2010 which started right after I met a PG&E High Performance Engineer.  A retired San Francisco Police Lt. who was at the Piedmont Lumber (Fire/Arson) in 2010 was standing next to your Engineer.  I believe his job would be calculating little things like Pipeline Pressures.  

I've filed police reports but none have gone anywhere but the FBI, State and perhaps a few from Contra Costa County are actually doing something. 

While the Attorneys toss the workers away like pawns on a Chessboard one of the worlds largest utilities is clearly under attack but worse while the attorneys jostle PG&E faces a paradoxical issues.  The recent announcement by Jon Wellinghoff former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and retired FBI Rick Smith but based on their statements I've been emailing ATF, FBI, State Investigators and PG&E Attorneys about what happened to my laptop that was breached several times.  

Your vendor placed thousands of sensitive PG&E documents on my laptop which was stolen in 2012 but recovered by the Walnut Creek Bomb Squad but lacking a decent explanation of where it was for 10 hours.  

On April 4th 2012 a pipe bomb found on the Iron Horse Trail is another dangerous incident.  This is the same mission critical location where Kinder Morgan Gate Valve is located which was shut down the 2004 Kinder Morgan 

There are several problems with the 2004 Kinder-Morgan Fire

1. First Person Witness Deceased 
2. Please see At Risk Los Lomas and Murwood Students deceased several unusual deaths 
3. Students now adults interviewed separately consistently state they heard two explosions
4. One of those students is the son of a friend - No one ever gave him a completed report on his sons drowning -  Williams, Mary Alicia Driscoll,
5. The other witness is a Federal Agent / and partner whose first person pictures were stolen.  The person who stole the camera was arrested and sent to prison for a dubious murder case.    

The Hillgrade Event - Domestic Terrorism in Action


San Bruno sues CPUC for access to blast documents

South Bay News

Attack on South Bay power station called 'terrorism'

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Blast kills 2, puts 6 in hospital / Fuel line erupts in flame at work site; 2 missing

By PETE BENNETT - Contra Costa Watch EMAIL
Phone: 510-460-5641
Posted: 12/24/2013

Reposted to Protect My Sons
Perhaps the CEO of Accenture will give my 4.0 Student Son a College Grant 
Arson Murder - Magalia / Paradise CA
Related: Arson / Arson

WALNUT CREEK / Blast kills 2, puts 6 in hospital / Fuel line erupts in flame at work site; 2 missing

Meredith May, Demian Bulwa, Carrie Sturrock and Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writers

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, November 10, 2004

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  Adri Riley (cq) (left) and Sarah Potter run with their pet dogs out of the Diablo Pointe apartment complex at 1450 Creekside Drive in Walnut Creek.They were told to evacuate because of fear of further explosions. (note : they did not live at this complex but rather one just across the street. A gas line explodes killing two members of a work crew as they were working on a construction project on South Broadway near Los Lomas High School. Photo by Michael Maloney / San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Michael Maloney

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A fireball several stories high roared out of the ground near downtown Walnut Creek on Tuesday, killing two construction workers, injuring six and leaving two workers missing after a crew accidentally cut an underground jet fuel line.

The blast occurred about a quarter-mile away from the intersection of Newell Avenue and South Broadway, where two crews contracted by Mountain Cascade Inc. of Livermore were installing a large water main for the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

One group of workers was welding in a trench, and a second group was digging another trench with a backhoe that apparently broke a pipeline that carries aviation fuel from Concord to the San Jose International Airport, said EBMUD spokesman Charles Hardy and Walnut Creek police investigating the accident.

Ellen Sabaduquia, 54, of Walnut Creek was driving on Broadway at 1:30 p.m. when the inferno shot out of the ground a few feet from her Toyota minivan. 

She watched in horror as two screaming men emerged from the hole, engulfed in flames.

"I thought I was in Fallujah for a moment," Sabaduquia told The Chronicle, her voice trembling. "It almost looked like slow motion from a horror movie."

Sabaduquia said she wanted to get out and pick up the workers, but the flames were too ferocious and she was forced to throw her vehicle into reverse.

The six workers who were injured were all burned -- three critically, authorities said. Those with the worst injuries were airlifted to Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo in critical condition with burns over 40 to 60 percent of their bodies, said hospital spokeswoman Paula Ferron.

Two victims were airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek with burns so severe they were transported again to a burn center at UC Davis, according to a hospital spokeswoman. There was no information available on the sixth burn victim.

Initial reports by authorities had three workers dead, but later in the evening police said that they had confirmed two fatalities and retrieved the bodies of those victims. Authorities did not disclose the names of the dead or the missing.

The accident sparked a series of underground explosions, sent a huge column of black smoke into the sky, burned one home and damaged several others on Doris Avenue, and prompted the evacuations of Las Lomas High School and Muirwood Elementary.

"This is the worst day of my life," said Bill Williams of Mountain Cascade, general contractor for EBMUD's $180 million Walnut Creek-San Ramon Valley Improvement Project to increase water flow in the area.

Williams fielded phone calls Tuesday afternoon from worried wives and scanned work rosters to try to figure out who was unaccounted for.

The explosion rattled shops at nearby Broadway Plaza and caused students to jump in their seats. The force was so intense it blew out the windows of several apartments on Creekside Drive across the street and charred the cab of an 18-wheeler parked near the construction site.

Initially, firefighters were prevented from approaching the searing hot flames, so they were forced to keep the public away and wait for the gasoline to burn out.

Firefighters capped the pipeline at cutoff valves in Concord and Alamo, and the inferno receded about 90 minutes later, said Steve Maiero, battalion chief of the Contra Costa Fire Protection District.

They discovered two bodies in or near the hole, Maiero said.

The jet fuel line, owned by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners of Houston, was marked on maps that construction workers were using, according to Eugene Braithwaite, director of operations for the company's northern region.

Kinder Morgan is under investigation in a separate incident in which 85, 000 gallons of fuel spilled from one of its pipelines into the Suisun Marsh last April.

Braithwaite said as soon as it was safe, Kinder Morgan would assess how to clean up the Walnut Creek pipe break, possibly using vacuum pumps to remove any residual fuel.

A few Doris Avenue residents spent the night with friends or in hotels with help from theRed Cross. Among them were Enos and Leto Chabot, who lost the back half of their two-story home at 2053 Doris Ave. The fireball rose 90 feet from the construction pit, up a concrete wall and burned their entire backyard, melting the windows on their back wall.

The couple were having lunch at the Hick'ry Pit restaurant nearby when they heard the boom, and they returned home to find their neighbors evacuated to a street corner a few blocks away.

"The important thing is we're OK," said Leto Chabot. "We have insurance, but this will take months to get fixed."

At Las Lomas High, Sarah Jones, 16, said she was in her physics class when she heard what she thought was someone dropping something on the roof.

Students were instructed over the loudspeaker to stay inside, then told to evacuate to Civic Park. They could see the plume of black smoke from the parking lot.

"I don't think we were so much scared as confused," Jones said. "Because nobody told us what was going on."

The evacuation went smoothly, however, because nearly all the students had cell phones and could call their parents to come get them. Only about 50 of the school's 1,700 students made it to Civic Park, and the rest went to downtown coffee shops and juice bars to wait for their parents.

As darkness fell, authorities used a robot to shoot close-up photographs of the accident scene.

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