Contractor hit a gas pipe, and gas leaked into neighborhood before igniting.
An aerial view of the scene as officials investigate the aftermath of an explosion and three-alarm fire on East Lewelling Boulevard in unincorporated Ashland, Calif.
, on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. Six people were transported to the hospital after a PG&E gas line exploded on Thursday. after a PG&E gas leak in December, resident Jesus Duenas “fell into the basement of the house and saw a red-hot pipe explode,” according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday claiming PG&E falsely claimed to federal investigators that before the explosion it tried to warn neighborhood residents of the leak.
With broken limbs and extensive burns, Jesus Duenas, covered in debris, pulled himself along by his arms, face down, “and then went belly side up to use his legs to push himself out until eventually getting pulled out of the home area by an individual,” the lawsuit said. Duenas has had two surgeries and continues to suffer mobility problems and limited use of his hands, along with “psychological and emotional distress because of the massive explosion,” according to the lawsuit.
Also in the home in the unincorporated Ashland neighborhood of Alameda County when it blew up a little after 9:30 a.m. Dec. 11 were Duenas’ sister Maria Duenas and her daughter Soledad Flores, who were in bed. A wall fell on them, breaking two of Soledad’s ribs and leaving Maria with a broken neck and burns to her face, hands and arms, according to the lawsuit she filed along with her brothers Jesus and Jorge Duenas and her children Soledad and Angelo Flores.
“Maria barely managed to escape the house with Soledad,” the lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior court said. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages and compensation for medical expenses and loss of future earnings. Soledad needed surgery to repair her rib damage, and Maria “has limited range in her left arm, and her throat and jaw no longer properly function,” the lawsuit said.
“For some time, Maria was hooked up to a breathing machine and underwent multiple surgeries due to the incident. ” Soledad and her mother continue to experience emotional and psychological distress, which for Maria has affected her ability to care for Soledad and her son Angelo, who was at school when the blast occurred, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleged that after PG&E was notified that a gas line had been ruptured and leaked, it failed to warn the family or neighbors.told the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates pipeline accidents, “that they had knocked on the doors of the Duenas home, the two houses on either side of the Duenas home, and the house across the street,” the lawsuit said. But based on accounts from the Duenas’, and doorbell camera footage from one of the homes PG&E said it had knocked on, “this representation was false and designed to cover up PG&E’s knowing failure to properly notify residents,” the lawsuit said.
The utility said the safety board’s rules about ongoing investigations restricted it from commenting further. Three of its workers were injured in the incident and were treated and released from a hospital, the safety board reported. Jorge Duenas, brother of Maria and Jesus, was in Mexico when the explosion happened, the lawsuit said.
The safety board in a preliminary report described the incident as a “Pacific Gas and Electric Natural Gas–Fueled House Explosion and Fire” that occurred as PG&E workers “were responding to a leak in their pipeline system at the accident site.
” PG&E’s distribution system included a 2-inch diameter steel gas main running along East Lewelling Boulevard and 3/4-inch steel service lines connected to the Duenas’ home and to neighboring houses,Developer of Santa Cruz County battery storage project pivots to state route for permit approvalPG&E CEO Patti Poppe talks about monthly bills, reliability and more About two hours before the blast, PG&E was notified that Mayo Asphalt Milling — a Fremont company, according to California state records — had damaged the gas line running to a house across the road from the Duenas’ residence, while doing roadwork on East Lewelling Boulevard. PG&E workers arrived a little more than 20 minutes later and found a leak in the line, the report said.
Alameda County firefighters had shown up about three minutes after the PG&E crew, “but left soon after when a PG&E responder informed them that they did not need assistance,” the report said. The PG&E workers detected gas at ground level near the Duenas’ home, the report said.
When interviewed by safety board staff, the utility’s crew said they had knocked on the doors at the Duenas’ house and the homes adjoining it, as well as at the house across the street “to make contact with the residents but no one responded,” the report said. The lawsuit claimed that despite what the crew told investigators, “PG&E failed to notify any of the nearby residents, including , that there was an active gas leak near their homes.
” Minutes after the PG&E crew shut off the gas main, stopping gas flow to the smaller service lines, the Duenas’ house blew up, the report said. The safety board said Wednesday its investigations typically take one to two years. In the preliminary report, the agency said its probe would focus on “the physical evidence secured at the accident site, safe excavation practices, and PG&E’s leak response and leak investigation procedures.
” Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Alameda County, two contractors involved in work that allegedly damaged the gas line, and the Duenas’ landlord. The lawsuit claimed Mayo Asphalt Milling “failed to use due care in its excavation activities that caused the gas leak,” including by allegedly “failing to dig by hand near the gas line.
” A man who answered the phone Wednesday at Mayo Asphalt Milling, which according to the safety board fixes roads and sidewalks, said, “He’s not here,” and hung up. No one responded to a voicemail this news organization left afterward. Angela Plowman, the owner of the Duenas’ rented home and the duplex beside it, said the tenants in the other unit were not injured in the blast.
Plowman said she was puzzled by the lawsuit’s claim that her failure to keep the property in a “reasonably safe and secure manner” was a factor in the explosion and its severity.
“I don’t know what it is they’re suggesting I didn’t do correctly,” Plowman, of Castro Valley, said Wednesday. The lawsuit also alleged Alameda County was “negligently undertaking road grading” for the East Lewelling Boulevard upgrade project when the house exploded, and shares responsibility with its contractors for the blast. The county’s fire department “failed to handle the leak appropriately and stay on the scene,” the lawsuit claimed.
The County also failed to notify the Duenas family or others in the neighborhood about the gas leak, the lawsuit alleged. Mayo Asphalt Milling, working in the East Lewelling project several months before the blast, hit a PG&E gas line, and Alameda County and Redgwick Construction, which employed Mayo Asphalt as a subcontractor and is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, “failed to take adequate measures to address Mayo Asphalt’s excavation procedures,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit accused PG&E of “a decades-long pattern of corporate recklessness that demonstrates a conscious disregard for public safety in favor of corporate profits. ” The utility’s “deliberate indifference to the safety of California communities” led tothat killed 8 people, injured 58, and destroyed 38 homes,” the lawsuit claimed, noting that PG&E was found guilty in 2016 of multiple felony counts in connection with the incident.
Over the subsequent five years of federal criminal probation PG&E received for the San Bruno explosion, “PG&E was blamed for more than 30Review: Pop star fails to impress in so many ways with latest concert tourStabbed in a Safeway, shopper pulls out a gun and shoots, Redwood City police sayLake Oroville, California's second-largest reservoir, is 99% full and risingDear Abby: My feelings are hurt, and I won't attend my granddaughter's wedding
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