Blast and fire level city block

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A wall of fire roared through a block of Venice Boulevard in the Venice area destroying businesses and apartments and leaving at least two dead and 26 injured. Large fireballs were hurled and thick black smoke billowed 300 feet into the air, when an excavation machine on a state street-widening project struck a buried Standard Oil Co. 8-inch pipeline. The gasoline, under 600 pounds of pressure per square inch, shot up like a fountain and formed a mist then came the explosion. A full investigation was promised by Caltrans, which had contracted with a private construction firm for the street-widening work. Photograph caption dated June 17, 1976 reads, "Aerial view photographed when flames were under control shows the devastated area's proximity to the busy Santa Monica Freeway (top of picture) and densely populated residential area. Leveled area is along Venice Boulevard between Bagley on the east and Cardiff on the west."