By Linda Taaffe

Fire investigators have spent more than a week carefully sifting through thick layers of rubble piled as high as 15 feet in some areas in their search for gas pipes, connectors and other pieces of evidence needed to determine the cause of a natural gas explosion that leveled a Los Altos home July 7. They still had no conclusions Monday by press deadline.

“There’s a lot of rubble to go through,” said Jeff Smith, spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric, which is conducting an

investigation independent of the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

A county fire investigator was seen examining gas hookups in the area of the home that was once a laundry room last Thursday looking for cracked pipes and other telltale signs that would indicate where the explosion occurred.

He would not comment on whether he found anything substantial.

Toys, clothing, insulation and pieces of crumbled walls still littered the Frontero Avenue property a week after the explosion that occurred early in the morning while David Hu and his two children were asleep. Hu’s wife was out of town. All three escaped with minor injuries.

“It’s amazing that three people survived and their injuries are minor,” said Tom Walsh, senior deputy fire marshal for the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

The blast was so powerful it leveled three-quarters of the single-story ranch home. The roof was blown several feet into the air and landed intact on the frame facing a different direction. Windows were blown out of the walls and into the yard. A stucco wall looked like a blanket draped over the steel entry gate at the front of the driveway.

Residents on the other side of Foothill Expressway said the ground shook under their feet during the blast.

Hu’s children had crawled out of the rubble by the time emergency crews arrived at 8:15 a.m. Hu remained trapped under rubble for nearly four hours as crews cleared an opening large enough to pull him out.

Neighbors said they have not spoken to or seen the Hu family since that day.