San Bruno blast victim skirted death

Fumie Tanaka knows she could be dead.

After all, eight of her close neighbors perished in the San Bruno explosion and fire Sept. 9 that completely destroyed 35 homes, including the one she shared with her husband.

Fumie was home alone when a gas pipeline exploded at 6:12 p.m. on Glenview Drive. Her husband, Masao, was on his way home to 1106 Fairmont Drive when he saw a huge fireball shoot up from the neighborhood. Police would not let him into the neighborhood as it was quickly being evacuated.

He had no way of reaching his wife; the phones were dead. He was certain, however, his home of two decades would not be affected by the fire.

He was wrong.

Masao ended up in the parking lot of Lunardi’s before making his way down to the Bayhill Shopping Center around 7 p.m., where many evacuees would end up and be cared for by the Red Cross and county officials. His wife was not at either location, however.

While Masao searched the evacuation center for his wife, she was holed up in the garage of their home covered in a towel she doused with water. She, like many others, thought the explosion was caused by a jetliner crash and that perhaps the fire would die down slowly.

But her home was quickly filling up with smoke, becoming completely dark. She saw her neighbor’s home on fire and noticed the fire had jumped to the roof of her home.

She had to get out but did not know how, the fire was everywhere and the heat so intense it was like a wall preventing her from leaving her home, she said.

When she started running out of her home, she could see the devastation caused by the explosion. Homes all around her were already reduced to rubble just 30 minutes after the explosion.

There was no one in sight.

"Where should I go?” she asked herself.

She was not scared, though.

"I was determined to get out of their alive,” she said. "I was fighting for my life.”

Fumie, 56, started running frantically toward Claremont Drive where she saw about six firefighters busy trying to save homes. They waved her toward them and she ran up the hill as quickly as she could, towel in hand, before collapsing in the middle of the street exhausted.

Firefighters quickly swept her to safety and she ended up at the Earl Avenue fire station, just off Sneath Lane near Skyline Boulevard. She stayed there for a while as other fire victims were being cared for by paramedics.

Then the pain set in.

Fumie’s legs and feet were badly burned. She needed to go to the hospital. She ended up at Kaiser Medical center in South San Francisco while her husband waited patiently at Bayhill.

Four hours after the explosion, Masao had no idea what had become of his wife of 24 years.

Then his cell phone rang.

While at the hospital, Fumie told her doctor she had not had contact with her husband for hours. The doctor quickly called Masao with news his wife was OK but badly burned.

It was the most welcome phone call Masao ever got.

Nine weeks later, the couple are now living at the Serramonte Highlands apartment complex that their insurance is paying for.

The Tanakas lost everything in the fire, except for a few small items including a charred wine rack and a tea cup.

The only other item the couple owned that was saved from the fire was Fumie’s diamond wedding ring, found inside its case lying next to the couple’s completely burned-out Toyota Camry in the home’s driveway.

Now, nothing at all remains on the lot where the Tanakas once lived. They do intend to rebuild there, though, and return to the neighborhood they have called home since 1992.

Although Fumie has no hesitation to return to live in the Glenview neighborhood, she gets nervous when she hears sirens or sees a fire engine.

The support she has received from the city of San Bruno, however, has helped ease the stress, she said.

Looking back on the night Fumie escaped the fire, she holds the firefighters who whisked her to safety in the highest regard.

The couple are Japanese nationals and speak English as a second language. She remained mostly quiet after being rescued until the pain in her legs became unbearable.

For now, the couple is not interested in suing Pacific Gas & Electric for the pipeline failure, although news of other civil lawsuits being filed on behalf of other victims has raised their curiosity.

They are happy, however, the utility company will relocate the 30-inch pipeline that burst Sept. 9.

The small items that survived the fire are little symbols the couple will cherish forever. Although, they lost nearly everything they still have each other and are eager to get their lives back to normal.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.