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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Thursday, February 7, 2019 San Francisco gas explosion shoots fire that burns buildings Crews working on fiber optic cables cut through gas lines By JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — A gas explosion in a San Francisco neigh- borhood shot flames into the air for hours Wednesday and burned five buildings, sending panicked resi- dents and workers fleeing into the streets. It took utility crews more than two hours to put out the fire after private construction workers cut a natural gas line, igniting the tow- ering flames, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said. Authorities initially said five workers were missing, but the entire construction crew was found safe, and no other injuries were reported. Officials evacuated several nearby buildings, including a medical clinic and apartment buildings, Hayes-White said. Vehicles on a busy street got rerouted as authorities cordoned off the bustling retail and residen- tial neighborhood. The fire damaged a building housing Hong Kong Lounge II, a popular dim sum restaurant fre- quented by tourists and students at the University of San Francisco that made many “best of” lists. Caroline Gasparini, 24, who AP Photo/Jeff Chiu San Francisco firefighters battle a fire on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco on Wednesday. rant run out the back door and peo- ple fleeing down the block. Nick Jalali, 28, was cooking at home when the electricity cut out. “We didn’t hear anything,” he said. “We just felt the shak- ing, and the next thing we knew, people were banging on the door to tell people it’s time to start evacuating.” Firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading while Pacific Gas & Electric crews tried to shut lives catty-corner from where the fire ignited, said she and her housemate were in their living room when the windows started rattling. She looked up to see flames reflected in the glass. “We went into crisis mode,” Gasparini said. “We grabbed our shoes, grabbed our laptops and grabbed our passports and just left.” Gasparini said they saw employees of the burning restau- Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY Mostly sunny and cold Cold with a little snow at times Cold with a little snow at times Colder with a little snow Not as cold with snow 29° 17° 30° 26° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 31° 14° 31° 16° 19° 12° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 29° 19° 32° 27° 32° 20° 30° 19° 25° 13° OREGON FORECAST ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 44/28 28/21 28/15 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 29/20 Lewiston 44/28 29/18 Astoria 45/30 Pullman Yakima 29/17 42/25 33/23 Portland Hermiston 41/28 The Dalles 29/19 Salem Corvallis 42/29 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 33/21 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 45/30 37/21 39/22 Ontario 36/20 Caldwell Burns 27° 2° 45° 29° 65° (1965) -13° (1929) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 44/30 Boardman Pendleton Medford 44/31 Trace 0.68" 0.20" 2.21" 1.24" 1.48" WINDS (in mph) 36/21 31/15 0.02" 0.79" 0.28" 2.86" 1.85" 1.66" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 30/16 43/30 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 29/17 31/24 23° 4° 44° 28° 67° (1996) -6° (1899) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 41/23 Aberdeen 25/19 25/16 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 41/27 Today Fri. NE 4-8 NNE 4-8 S 4-8 SW 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 35/21 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 7:10 a.m. 5:10 p.m. 8:46 a.m. 8:05 p.m. First Full Last New Feb 12 Feb 19 Feb 26 Mar 6 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 89° in McAllen, Texas Low -23° in Kabetogama, Minn. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY off the natural gas line. PG&E spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said state excavation rules required crews to dig by hand around other pipelines before they were eventually able to “squeeze” a 4-inch plastic line. She said that because the fire was contained to a limited area, the utility had to weigh the threat from the fire with the risk of more drastic action. “Had we turned the gas off to a transmission system, we would have shut off gas to nearly the entire city of San Francisco,” she said. “The objective of this was to turn the gas off safely and as quickly as possible.” In an earthquake, Subbotin said PG&E would shut off a transmis- sion line. The company stressed that the workers who cut the gas line are not affiliated with the nation’s largest utility. The fire began around 1:20 p.m., apparently by crews working on fiber-optic wires, Hayes-White said. Joseph Feusi lives four blocks away and said he was awoken by what sounded like a jet engine. Feusi, who works nights and sleeps in the afternoon, said he could see the towering flames from his home. “I think the eight guys are really lucky they didn’t get blown to bits,” he said. PG&E is under heightened scrutiny over its natural gas pipe- lines after one exploded under a neighborhood south of San Fran- cisco in 2010, killing eight people and wiping out a neighborhood in suburban San Bruno. A U.S. judge fined PG&E $3 million for a conviction on six fel- ony charges of failing to properly maintain the pipeline, and the util- ity remains under a federal judge’s watch in that case. Authorities: Photographer drugged, raped young models contact authorities. Koester’s defense attor- ney in the California cases, MCMINNVILLE — Jonathan Lynn, declined to A professional photogra- comment when reached by pher drugged and sexually phone Wednesday. assaulted young models or The indictment in the aspiring models he worked Oregon cases is sealed and with in Oregon and Cal- court records, including a ifornia, federal and state listing for a defense attor- ney, were not avail- authorities said able in the state’s Wednesday. online criminal sys- Robert Arnold tem. No one imme- Koester, 52, is diately returned an accused of bring- ing young women email sent to a list- ing on Koester’s and girls to a remote Koester business website. property outside Koester, who was McMinnville, in Oregon’s wine country, tak- known professionally as ing nude photos of them and Bert Kay, worked primar- sexually assaulting them ily photographing models there, Yamhill County Dis- in the U.S. West but author- trict Attorney Brad Berry ities said they have identi- fied potential victims in cit- said at a news conference. He announced an indict- ies across the country. He ment charging Koester with got referrals for modeling 32 counts, including rape. shoots from several profes- Investigators serving sional modeling agencies two search warrants at the and was fairly well-known remote, 28-acre property within the industry, Berry seized “many, many tera- said. bytes” of digital photos and His business website, videos as evidence. The Bert Kay Photography, is images suggest other vic- splashed with the slogan tims may have been abused “Chasing Light: From a hill- on the property, Berry said. top farm in Oregon wine Authorities asked any- country to locations world- one who was at the prop- wide,” and features some of erty for a modeling shoot his Pacific Northwest mod- — or anyone who knows eling photography. The charges in Ore- of female models who went to Koester’s property — to gon and California identify By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press eight people — four in Ore- gon and four in California, Berry said. “It’s hard to give you an estimate of the number of victims, in part because the amount of information that has been seized and has yet to be analyzed is huge and we don’t really know,” Berry said. “We wholly expect there to be more victims.” Koester, who also went by Rhake Winter and Qitooly, was indicted in Ore- gon on Jan. 30, on 32 counts of first-degree rape, sodomy, unlawful sexual penetration and causing another person to ingest a controlled sub- stance. The alleged victims include three women and one girl who were brought to the Oregon property from outside the state, Berry said. Koester is also charged with 23 sex-related counts in San Diego County, where he was arrested in November 2018 on suspicion of sexu- ally abusing four teenage girls in Carlsbad, California. He is being held on $1 million bail there and is on a hold in the federal cases, court records show. His bail in Oregon is $2.5 million. Koester also faces two federal counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in California. He bought the Oregon property in 2012 or 2013, Berry said. Suspect in shooting arrested after car chase VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say a lengthy car chase erupted into gunfire on interstates in Portland, and ended with the arrest of another suspect in the fatal shooting of a con- venience store clerk. Police in Kelso, Washing- ton, said Erkinson K. Bossy, 23, was arrested shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday after a pursuit from Vancouver, Washington, into Portland. The Columbian reports police pursuing the fleeing pickup exchanged gunfire with at least one suspect and an officer was being treated for minor injuries at an area hospital. Bossy was being treated at a hospital for seri- ous injuries suffered in the incident. Police say he did not have gunshot wounds. Investigators say Bossy was with D’Anthony Les- lie Williams, 19, when he allegedly fatally shot 30-year-old Kayla Chap- man, a clerk at a Kelso mar- ket, on Jan. 22. Williams was arrested the next day. Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. 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