Contractor fired after series of gas line ruptures in Haight-Ashbury

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KTVU) - In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, small business owners are still upset; there have been five gas line ruptures within a few months.

"All it takes is a spark and most of us won't be here," said Issa Husary, who owns a smoke shop on Haight Street.

The problems happened last year during a multi-million dollar sewer and water line replacement project.  Work on the project is on hold.

KTVU has learned the subcontractor , Synergy Project Management, has been fired from the project after an administrative hearing.  "We totally believe we saw more than we've seen on any project. And we believe there was some level of carelessness," said Mohammed Nuru, San Francisco's public works director

As an example of apparent carelessness by Synergy, KTVU obtained a photo from the city showing a Synergy project foreman being lowered down a manhole head first.

But the larger concerns are the gas ruptures.  "These failures disrupted and endangered the Haight-Ashbury community and I won't allow it to continue," said Supervisor London Breed during a hearing by the government audit and oversight committee.  Breed, whose district includes the Haight, held a hearing this afternoon aimed at finding out what happened and how to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"What I am hoping is this will serve as a wake up call to all these departments responsible for making sure we protect the city," she said.

No one from synergy attended the hearing. But the company has said PG&E's underground maps are inaccurate.

PG&E says the maps are fine, and that Synergy ignored recommendations to dig with hand tools instead of heavy equipment.

The city says it will have more oversight on the Haight Street project once it continues.