On Sunday morning, the shocking orange flames of natural gas in the special section on the San Bruno explosion were echoed on the red-orange cover of the Insight section titled "Prop 23: The cost of clean technology."

What will it take for us as a community, state and country to come to terms with the costs of fossil fuels?

If the neighborhood was powered by renewables and efficiency, planned and designed sustainably, we would have no need for a 30-inch pipe of natural gas.

Susan Ubbelohde, Oakland

Gratitude to firefighters

My most sincere thanks go to the firefighters from San Bruno, the Bay Area and beyond who battled the fire.

My neighborhood was under voluntary evacuation. With an enormous fireball burning out of control about mile from our house, we chose to leave. I am truly grateful to the men and women who came. Without the massive effort of so many fire departments, I might not have a home today. Thank you for your courage and hard work.

Alice Lawrie, San Bruno

Blood profits

So PG&E had $40 million to try to enshrine its monopoly in the California Constitution (Prop. 16 on the June ballot) but nothing to protect the residents of San Bruno from a defective gas line costing lives, a neighborhood devastated and SmartMeters that aren't smart for consumers.

I hope the stockholders are happy with their blood profits.

Vicki Leidner, San Francisco

A foul smell

If PG&E is concerned about gas usage and homeowners' costs, its approach of using SmartMeters raises a question of where it should be putting its money. Should it be facility maintenance, or buying and installing SmartMeters?

PG&E was warned and aware of a leak well in advance but failed miserably by not cutting off the high-pressure line immediately. Why wait? Money? Now they (we) will be spending big bucks. Not too smart!

Erwin Winterhalder, Novato

Lest we forget

The Chronicle headline on its Sept. 11 front page ("It looks like a war zone") was right on the mark.

It should perhaps also be noted that the damage in San Bruno is but a tiny fraction of the unnecessary devastation that our leaders inflicted just seven years ago upon the innocent citizens of Baghdad.

Ewart Wetherill, Alameda

Public safety values

As I read and watched the horror and disaster of the San Bruno fire, I couldn't help but think that any city or county that is even thinking about closing fire stations and laying off firefighters is out of its mind. The same goes for police officers. These men and women are invaluable to any community, and if anyone has doubts, watch and read the news and see for yourself.

Victoria Kaplan, San Francisco

Heroes with union label

The next time you read about Republicans condemning union government workers, remember the San Bruno fire. Those were union firefighters, union police officers and other union government workers fighting the fire, saving lives where they could. While most were running from the fire, these brave union members were running toward this hellish fire.

It is these brave folks that the Republicans bash day in and day out. They tell you that they are lazy and do not work. They tell you that the government cannot do anything right, that only the private sector can do work properly.

Compare these brave men and women with the mortgage thieves on Wall Street.

Be glad that you have these union government workers protecting you day in and day out.

Mark Sherry, Walnut Creek

Danger of addiction

The tragedy of San Bruno mirrors that of the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Lives have been lost, and many more lives have been deeply, irrevocably disrupted by our insatiable addiction to petrochemicals.

Every year thousands die in motor vehicle collisions, and tens of thousands of birds, mammals and fish drown, due to our "love affair" with the car.

Will we come to our senses?

My sympathies to those who lost loved ones in San Bruno, victims not of foul play, but of our folly in prioritizing petrochemical delivery over safety.

Michael Cox, Vancouver, B.C.

Divine judgment

First, I pray for those families who suffered in the San Bruno pipeline blast; this is a tragedy that could've been corrected with the right care being applied beforehand.

However, on a more divine level: This blast can be viewed as God's divine judgment upon San Fransicko (sic) for its ultra-leftist and anti-normal way of doing things, and for that sad excuse of a judge who overturned the will of the people in his anti-Proposition 8 ruling.

God is speaking, folks. Are you listening?

Lloyd Marshall Jr., Lockport, N.Y.

Accountability time

Within minutes of the explosion, the Federal Aviation Administration and San Francisco International Airport repeated constantly that the fireball was not the result of a plane crash.

Two hours later, according to the news on television, we hear about a pipeline explosion, but PG&E would not comment if it was its pipeline or not. When I went to bed six hours later, we hear the pipeline probably belonged to PG&E. Friday morning, 12 hours later, a PG&E spokesperson says (and I paraphrase) they are assessing the issue and will assume responsibility if they are responsible.

How long does it take PG&E to account that it was its pipeline and its responsibility?

Did it receive any complaints, as suggested by local citizens, that they smelled natural gas in the neighborhood? Did it have any crews on site during the previous seven days? Why did it take so long to turn off the pipeline in a residential area? Where was the cutoff valve?

I hope someone in the media asks some tough questions. This is getting shameful.

Robert Bialon, San Bruno

Ignored warnings

How many times have you heard, in response to a utility, medical or personal concern, "Ah, I wouldn't worry about that?" Perhaps a culture of macho shrug-it-off has to take some of the blame along with corporate profit motives should it turn out that energy workers' neglect led to this conflagration.

Paula Friedman, Parkdale, Ore.

Invest in infrastructure

The tragedy in San Bruno should be a wake-up call to the people of California: Our infrastructure is crumbling, our once greatest-in-the-world public education system is now second-rate, our park system is on charity life support, and our reputation as a state is a smoldering hulk.

To be a great state, the state our children deserve, the people have to pony up as they did when California was the greatest place on earth.

When will a politician emerge with the courage and leadership required to tell the people the truth: that we must sacrifice now for the common good and our children's future?

Tax the obscene wealth of this state that now goes to ostentatious luxury, investments in multinational corporations and offshore accounts.

Let's have a tax system that works for the people and makes this state great and safe again.

Repeal Proposition 13 now.

Michael Bickford, Arcata