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On Sept. 9, nearly 24 hours after erev  Rosh Hashanah, Clarence Press was preparing dinner when the floor started to shake beneath him. A longtime San Bruno resident, the 77-year-old assumed it was just an earthquake.

“The shaking lasted a couple of seconds,” recalled Press, a member of Peninsula Temple Sholom since 1968. “The next thing I did was look out the window to see what was happening. I saw a fireball coming toward me and the house.”

He assumed an airplane had caught fire and crashed nearby. But when he didn’t hear a thunderous roar, Press ventured outside his Earl Avenue home. His neighbors were wandering the streets, trying to figure out what had happened.

A natural gas explosion and fire had leveled his San Bruno neighborhood. The disaster, apparently triggered by a ruptured PG&E gas line, destroyed dozens of homes and left at least four dead, with several still missing.

Meanwhile, all Press could see was fire, smoke and ash. He watched as flames swallowed up corner houses on both sides of his street, and knew that if the winds changed, his home would be in danger. He warned his neighbors of the same potential misfortune.

Dozens of homes were leveled by the fire following a gas pipeline rupture in a San Bruno neighborhood. photo/ap/kevin spry

Press, whose wife, Shirley, was out to dinner with a friend at the time, grabbed his two dogs, jumped in the car and evacuated to Bayhill, a nearby shopping center. He called and met up with Shirley, an employee at the Hyatt Regency near the San Francisco Airport. The couple and their pets stayed there for three nights and moved back into their home Sept. 12.

Almost immediately after the explosion and fire, the local Jewish community stepped up to help their neighbors. Aid began to pour in from across the region, including Jewish community institutions.

The S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services set up a San Bruno Fire Relief Fund, which will assist victims through the Red Cross and the Silicon Valley Community Fund.

Rabbi Daniel Feder of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame transformed his home into a “command center” on Sept. 9, as he and his family attempted to reach every member of the congregation and beyond. All of his congregants were safe, he learned. 

“It was an intense evening,” Feder said. “I heard a lot of harrowing stories. People used words like ‘devastating,’ ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘war zone.’ This is a very real tragedy that makes so many of us feel vulnerable and less secure.”

Laura Levine said she was just minutes from her home on Concord Way when she saw a “huge inferno” towering over her neighborhood. She and her kids, 10-year-old Jake and 7-year-old Hannah, were coming back from an afternoon in the park, after spending the morning in Rosh Hashanah services.

Laura’s husband, Todd, had left on a business trip about 15 minutes before the explosion. Only the family dog remained in their home, and was later reunited with the family.

Levine, a Peninsula Temple Sholom member since 2002, was allowed back into her home Sept. 14. It was unrecognizable, she said, given the extensive smoke and roof damage. Most of the family’s belongings reeked of smoke and will need to be replaced.

“It was surreal getting back into the neighborhood,” said Levine from her parents’ home in Burlingame. She expects her family to be displaced for at least two months. “Here’s my house standing while others are gone. I could have been home with our kids playing outside. Todd could have been walking the dog. The survivor guilt is terrible.” 

In the aftermath, Levine said she was “overwhelmed” by the support from the synagogue, her kids’ school, Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City, and so many others who have offered their help.

“Words cannot describe how thankful we are to everybody,” Levine said. “I wish I could respond to and repay everyone who has helped, but that would be a full-time job.”

Fellow congregants have set up an emergency relief fund. Money collected will go directly to San Bruno residents, either in the form of cash or gift cards.

Feder said his door and the synagogue’s doors are “wide open” for anyone seeking spiritual counseling or needing professional resources such as attorneys, architects, accountants and contractors.

In San Mateo, Rabbi Dennis Eisner of Peninsula Temple Beth El sent an immediate e-mail to congregants, asking them to help their San Bruno neighbors impacted by the fire. He said no one from the congregation was directly affected.

In the short-term, Eisner asked for volunteers to help the relief effort set up at the San Bruno Recreation Center, by supplying items such as diapers, blankets, shoes, towels and children’s clothing.

Long-term plans include encouraging congregants to donate blood and keeping them up to speed on victims’ needs. On Yom Kippur, Eisner is planning to lead a special prayer for families affected and the emergency workers who responded.

A police escort brought Clarence and Shirley Press to their home on the night of the blast so they could retrieve prescription medications before heading to the hotel. What they saw amazed them.

Though there were cracks in the stucco and cement, the house was standing.

Before the explosion, “We were the seventh house on the block from the corner,” Clarence said. “Now we are the fifth. We didn’t know if we would have a house. When you look at the pictures, you can’t believe anything was left.”

How to help San Bruno blast and fire victims

Several Jewish organizations are accepting donations to help victims of the San Bruno fire:

• Jewish Family and Children’s Services is collecting donations through its website. To donate, go to https://ssl.charityweb.net/jfcs. To specify that your donation should go to fire victims, choose “Mid-North Peninsula” as the region and “Other” as the service, then write in “San Bruno fire.”

JFCS is also offering assistance with temporary housing and other direct services, including trauma counseling and access to its food pantry, to fire victims. If you are aware of a member of the community who is in need of assistance, contact Gayle Zahler at (415) 449-1286 or [email protected].

• The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation is accepting donations at www.jewishfed.org/be-philanthropist/453/san-bruno-fire-relief, or mail a check to the Jewish Community Federation — San Bruno Emergency Fund, 121 Steuart St., San Francisco, CA 94105.

• Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame is taking donations for its emergency relief fund, of which 100 percent of donated funds will go to help impacted San Bruno families. To donate, go to www.sholom.org or mail a check to Peninsula Temple Sholom, 1655 Sebastian Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010.