Aftermath of Explosion in San Bruno, California
HARRIS: So, hundreds of people in San Bruno, California, are waking up today surrounded by destruction and devastation. They were allowed to return to the San Francisco suburb yesterday for the first time since Friday's deadly gas line fire. CNN's Ted Rowlands joins us now from San Bruno. And Ted, I really want you at some point to describe what people there are waking up to this Monday morning, but I know you've got a guest with you.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. We have Christopher Hart. He's the vice chairman of the NTSB, the lead agency in the investigation into this explosion which took place last week. And obviously, you guys are focusing, Mr. Hart, on this piece of pipe. We saw a chunk of it, if you will, get hauled out of here this morning. What can you learn from actually analyzing the pipe? And what have you learned so far that you can share with us?</s>CHRISTOPHER HART, NTSB VICE-CHAIRMAN: We'll be taking that piece of the pipe, as well as the two pieces immediately adjacent to it on both ends, back to Washington, to our metallurgy labs, where we will do a detailed examination of them to determine what caused the breach of the pipe.</s>ROWLANDS: One thing that people are concerned about across the country is that these transmission lines are everywhere. There's miles and miles of them, and having this blow the way it did, and its age, should people be concerned about the future in the coming years and decades, about the infrastructure and this possibly happening more frequently?</s>HART: One of the systemic issues we'll be looking at, in addition to the specific issues related to this event is the fact that pipelines -- it's not uncommon that pipelines that were installed many, many years ago, as this one was in 1956, at that time they were in areas that weren't densely populated. Since then they have become densely populated. We need to address that and look at that in sort of the macro picture that we're addressing with this accident.</s>ROWLANDS: Specifically, in the days and weeks leading up to this, have you found anything of note in terms of people smelling gas? Have you been able to determine whether those reports are accurate? And there's also some reports that there was some construction on top of that area? What can you tell us about what may have triggered this?</s>HART: We didn't find any contemporaneous construction, but we will be looking at the history of this pipe to see over the years, not just over the weeks, but over the years, has there been any construction that could have resulted in damage to the pipe that might have created this problem? In addition to that, we're following up on the rumors we've heard about people who smelled gas and called it in. We have not yet been able to verify that, and so we have asked people, anyone who smelled gas and called it in, please let the authorities know or let us know so that we can follow it up.</s>ROWLANDS: All right. Mr. Hart, thank you. I know you have a lot of work to do here. Tony, basically, the investigation is ongoing. And the NTSB has said that it may take them months before they come to a final conclusion in terms of their final report, but they will update the public once they do find anything that is of note to this explosion that really has a lot of people nervous, as you might imagine, especially here, but really around the country.</s>HARRIS: All right. And so, Ted, that takes care of where we are in the investigation. If you would, describe that scene and what people living in that neighborhood are getting up to and waking up to today.</s>ROWLANDS: Yes. It's hard to -- we always say you have to be here to appreciate it. That really is the case here because, literally, the area where this explosion moved forward, it just flattened 37 houses, basically in an instant. And we came in yesterday with a family that was here when it happened. They shared with us some amazing home video. A gentleman was out on his porch, and it really makes you step back when you see the intensity of the flames in that video, and then you go out on his porch after and look at the aftermath. Basically, people are coming back to their homes. The ones that are coming back, their homes are intact, but their neighborhood as they knew it, obviously, is just completely blown away.</s>HARRIS: Right. All right. Ted Rowlands for us in San Bruno, California. Ted, good to see you. Thank you. Getting a job is certainly hard for everyone in this economy, but for one group in particular, it is especially difficult. We will tell you why in a moment. And the market's open for -- coming up on two hours now. Let's take a look at the numbers. We are in positive territory. How about that for a Monday? Up 83 points. We are following these numbers for you throughout the day, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.