By Linda Taaffe

joe hu/town crier Investigators and attorneys take photographs at the Frontero Avenue home that exploded in July. PG&E confirmed the cause of the explosion this week.

A faulty Pacific Gas & Electric gas line connector caused the explosion that blew apart a Los Altos home and sent a man and his two children to the hospital in July, PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith confirmed last week.

The ongoing investigation revealed that a copper connector used to join two steel gas pipes failed at the street. Investigators suspect that gas began leaking at the failed connector and entered back into the Frontero Ave. house through the sewer, consequently causing the explosion that destroyed three-quarters of the one-story ranch-style home where owner David Hu and his two children were sleeping. The three escaped with minor injuries.

Smith said PG&E had inspected the connector within the past year. There was no evidence at that time that the connector was failing, he said.

“This is extremely rare,” Smith said. “We are analyzing this particular situation to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We are extremely sorry and have a tremendous amount of sympathy for the family. We feel badly for their loss but are relieved the injuries were not more serious than they were.”

PG&E is working with the Hu family’s insurance company to provide temporary housing and proper restitution, Smith said. He did not give an estimated dollar amount of the damage.

Neighbors said the early morning explosion felt like a sonic boom. The blast was so powerful it blew the windows out of the walls and into the yard. None of the panes was cracked or broken. The roof blew up several feet and landed back on the frame facing a different direction.

Children playing in McKenzie Park across Foothill Expressway felt the ground shake.

The windows of a school bus driving past on the expressway shattered from the blast. When it was over, a pile of splintered rubble 15 feet high covered the property.

“Looking at the extent of the damage … it’s amazing that three people survived and their injuries are minor,” Tom Walsh, senior deputy fire marshal for the Santa Clara County Fire Department, said when he responded to the emergency call.

Hu was pinned under a mattress covered with debris, including a portion of the garage roof. He suffered some bruises and scratches and minor injuries to his ankle.

His children, Aaron, 4, and Ashley, 6, had climbed out of the rubble by the time emergency workers arrived.

Hu’s wife was in China at the time of the explosion.

Hu told reporters that the children would have been sleeping in their own rooms rather than with him if his wife had not been out of town.

The Hu family moved to their Frontero home in January 2003.