13 years ago this weekend was the PG&E gas line explosion that took out a neighborhood in San Bruno, CA I grew up in the area and I had a class reunion around the same time. When the street exploded, the asphalt became a kind of sticky pitch which contributed to the destruction of the homes that were not near the explosion site. I talked with one girl whose parents' house was yellow tagged afterward. There was a hole in the wall of her old bedroom that was a result of the burning pitch.

That said, people who did not lose their properties were allowed back in right away. I knew of a number of people who had been evacuated but that was really only during the time they were fighting the fire (the winds were bad that night - frankly, they were extremely lucky because there is a eucalyptus grove that borders the neighborhood and had that ignited, the fire would have jumped into the next neighborhoodand and things would have really been bad). Residents had to show ID to prove they actually lived there. Which was understandable because there were a lot if looky loos and they wanted to make sure to keep looting at bay. The "command center," if I recall, was a couple of trailers.