EARTHQUAKE / THE LONG ROAD BACK : One Neighborhood’s Struggle

On an earthquake-scarred stretch of Balboa Boulevard in Granada Hills, a gas explosion that occurred Monday an hour after the 6.6 temblor shot flames 100 feet upward, the fire and horrific heat destroying five houses. Here are vignettes from 48 hours later, on a day when President Clinton visited the neighborhood and examined a 10-foot-deep crater caused by the explosion on the east side of the street:

“We’ve lost everything but our minivan and car--we drove away just in time,” said Calvin Lee, standing amid ashes and a blackened chimney. Lee, who moved here from Korea 25 years ago, can’t imagine leaving California. “Yes, it’s scary,” said Lee, who plans to rebuild. “This,” he said, gazing at the rubble, “is already home!”

This house burned to the ground in the same fire, but its occupants fled unhurt, neighbors say.

A retired couple lived in this house, neighbors say, and escaped unharmed before the fire destroyed it.

An unopened newspaper lay at the front door. Yellow emergency tape was stretched from here past the three gutted houses down the street.

In front of this empty house stands a “For Sale” sign.

“The headboard broke and fell on top of me. I thought, “This is the Big One,” said Bob Moore. With no phone service, Moore had no way to call relatives. But a granddaughter saw a photo of the neighborhood on television and notified relatives that his house was intact. Moore says he intends to stay. “We don’t get earthquakes like this but every 20 years. I don’t expect to see another one.”

“It looked like the end of the world!” Deanna Brydon said of the flames leaping from the gas explosion. “I wondered, ‘Are we the only ones left?’ ” Deanna’s brother, Darryl, said, “I’m considering asking for a transfer out of here.” His retired father also was in the house when the quake struck. “Dad left for Phoenix today--he can’t stand it here any longer,” he said. “He told us, ‘I love you. Goodby.’ ”

Strings of multicolored Christmas lights still adorn this one-story house.

Signs on plywood-covered windows say in red paint: “PLEASE HELP US” and “BILL CLINTON HELP.”

Only charred rubble remains at this residence. The occupants are said to have escaped.

In the ashes of this residence sat the blackened carcass of a compact car. The residents fled unhurt, a neighbor said, but not until he banged on the door to warn them. “The man was scared and he asked, ‘What do I do?’ I said, ‘Get out! Now!’ ”

The quake jolted a group of Cal State Northridge fraternity brothers. “I looked outside the upstairs window, and water was gushing down the street,” said Chris Gadomski, who also works for the Los Angeles Fire Department. “I told everybody to get outside.” Sniffing gas, he ran to the next two houses and houses across street and told occupants to get out. “They all got out alive.” Meanwhile, the gas line exploded. Back at his house, the roommates scooped water from the swimming pool and formed a bucket brigade and saved their house from fire.

Research by JEFF PRUGH / Los Angeles Times