San Bruno Pipeline Explosion

Date: September 9, 2010 • Location: San Bruno, United States

A natural-gas pipeline in San Bruno, California, exploded and "shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet (300 m) in the air", killing eight people.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel, naturally occurring in geological formations. Typically, the gas is a mix of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium. Methane is a colorless and odorless gas, and, after carbon dioxide, is the second-greatest greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change. Because natural gas is odorless, a commercial odorizer, such as methanethiol, that smells of hydrogen sulfide is added to the gas for the ready detection of gas leaks.