More than seven months after a natural gas explosion destroyed an apartment building in Capitola Village, some residents and nearby business owners are still picking up the pieces amid allegations the danger is not over.
The Christmas morning explosion rocked the Village, the historic, square-mile heart of Capitola along Monterey Bay. Video from Capitola resident Bruce Arthur's doorbell camera on the cliffs above shows a massive fireball rising from the building at 5:09 a.m.
A doorbell camera captured the explosion that destroyed an apartment building in Capitola Village on December 25, 2024. Courtesy: Bruce Arthur
Residents and visitors poured into the streets trying to make sense of what happened. They found the four-unit apartment building at 105 Lawn Way nearly flattened, and still in flames.
“We were here probably with the second fire engine,” said Kristie Baron, owner of the El Toro Bravo restaurant next door, who had received a call from a tenant living upstairs in her building.
“All I could see was black smoke,” she said. “We could see that it wasn't our place that had blown up, but it was actually one of my good friends next to us.”
“Sorry, it's emotional,” she said through tears.
Her friend, Charlene Caparra, was the only resident of 105 Lawn Way home at the time of the blast. She somehow managed to escape, and was treated for her injuries at a nearby urgent care facility.
Residents and visitors in Capitola Village were awakened on Christmas morning by an explosion that destroyed a four-unit apartment building at 105 Lawn Way.
It would take approximately four hours for crews to locate the source of the gas leak and put out the fire. At 7:00 p.m., Capitola police issued a statement saying that the scene had been secured, and that “there is no known threat to the public” beyond the “compromised structural integrity” of the apartment building.
Some residents now say that statement was at least wildly premature, and possibly flat out wrong.
Digging deeper
Karin Anderson, who lives at 119 Lawn Way, a few doors down from the blast, said she was surprised less than three months later, in March, to find a PG&E crew digging a hole in the alley behind her building. Anderson, who works from home, said she was initially annoyed by the noise outside her window.
“I decided I was going to go out and make nice with them and see what they’re doing,” she said.
The foreman showed her multiple holes the crew had dug throughout the Village.
Records show PG&E received permits from the city to dig a total of 16 holes, including the one behind Anderson’s house. She said she was astonished by what she saw in many of the holes.
Photographs show natural gas lines within inches of underground electrical and communication lines. Some electrical lines were not enclosed in conduits.
“My anxiety level just skyrocketed,” Anderson said.
California Public Utilities Commission regulations require at least a 12-inch separation between underground utility lines when they run parallel to one another, and six inches when they cross.
Explosion cause revealed
An independent engineering report commissioned by PG&E following the explosion illustrated the potential perils of electric and gas lines running too close together or improperly installed.
The report, by Menlo Park-based engineering firm Exponent, said the explosion occurred after an underground electric line–which was not in a conduit–began arcing. The report said the line may have been compromised by runoff from recent storms.
The intense heat from the arcing power line melted three holes in the nearby gas line, the report said. That sent fumes into the nearby apartment building, where they built up and ignited.
“The gas and electric lines in the vicinity of the leak had less than six inches of separation distance from each other. In addition, both gas and electric lines each had less than six inches of separation from telecommunication lines,” the report said.
Anderson and others worry that similar conditions exist throughout Capitola Village.
Lawsuits allege negligence
In April, attorneys representing Anderson and 27 other residents and business owners sued PG&E in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. They accuse the utility of negligence, and allege that the risks are ongoing.
“Residents and local business owners are concerned…that the dangerous conditions which provoked the electrical meltdown and gas leak are present throughout Capitola Village,” the complaint says. “They rightly fear that another leak and explosion could occur again.”
Among the plaintiffs is Anthony Guajardo, owner of Mijo’s Taqueria, at 200 Monterey Ave., around the corner from the Lawn Way blast. He blames the explosion for a decline in foot traffic in the Village this summer, not to mention general anxiety among residents and business owners.
“We are all living day to day (with) this pending doom of, ‘could this happen again?’” he said.
Others have filed separate suits against the utility.
Charlene Caparra, 62, the resident at 105 Lawn Way who narrowly escaped the blast, suffered “permanent trauma,” according to the complaint, including the lingering effects of a concussion, hearing loss, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
David Kelty, who also lived at 105 Lawn Way but was visiting family in Oregon at the time of the blast, lost all his personal belongings in the blast, according to the complaint. He said he also lost the life he had built over ten years in the tight-knit community. He said it is hard to imagine moving back because of the trauma.
“It’s changed almost every aspect of my life to some extent,” he said.
Kristie Baron and her husband Jon, owners of the El Toro Bravo restaurant, have also sued.
The restaurant, which has been in Kristie’s family since 1967, shared a wall with 105 Lawn Way. It suffered extensive smoke and water damage from the explosion and firefighting efforts, and it remains closed as workers install a new roof and repair interior and exterior walls.
Having missed the entire 2025 tourist season, she said there is no word yet on when she will be able to reopen.
“I started bussing tables here at 12 years old,” she said. “This is all I know.”
Sacramento attorney Bill Kershaw of Kershaw Talley Barlow, who represents the plaintiffs, said that in addition to damages, the lawsuits seek transparency from PG&E.
“How are the residents to be assured that everything is being done that can be done to assure their safety?” he said.
The residents allege that other than a single public meeting with PG&E representatives arranged by the city earlier this year, they have heard almost nothing from the company.
Tracking the repairs
The group has also filed claims against the City of Capitola, though Baron said city officials have been helpful in streamlining permits for the repairs at the restaurant.
City Manager Jamie Goldstein told KAZU that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is overseeing work on the underground lines. But he said that based on the permits PG&E obtained from the city–which have since been closed out–he believes that the most critical work is complete.
“To the best of our knowledge, PG&E has completed all the remediation work,” he said.
In a court filing responding to the suit by the residents and business owners, PG&E still refers to the Christmas blast as an “isolated” incident, and it says that allegations of similar conditions throughout the Village are based on “hypotheticals.”
The company argues that the case should be dismissed because the issues fall under the jurisdiction of the CPUC, which did not respond to an email from KAZU seeking a comment.
PG&E has not yet responded in court to the individual cases filed by Caparra, Kelty, or the Barons. But in a statement to KAZU, the company said it is working on the situation.
“The safe, reliable delivery of gas and electric service is PG&E’s most important responsibility, and we remain committed to transparency throughout this process,” the statement said.
The company said it is working with the CPUC to analyze conditions in the Village, and that the company had already taken action “to assess and mitigate the risks of a similar incident occurring again.” That included adding more distance between some underground lines, the statement said.
The company also said it is working on additional measures including installing physical barriers between gas and electric lines where it can, as well as improving quality control.
“We are currently evaluating the next phase of communications” with the community, the statement said.
Kristie Baron said the information cannot come too soon.
“I want to feel comfortable with being able to be in my business once we get it up and running and not have to worry about something like that happening again,” she said.
A case management conference in Santa Cruz County Superior Court is scheduled for Tuesday, August 12.
