MURRIETA - (INT) – Authorities have identified the SoCalGas technician killed in Monday’s explosion that inured 15 other people.

Wade Kilpatrick, 31, had responded to a report that a contractor had accidentally ruptured a gas line outside a home on Wooden Horse Trail. Less than an hour later, a massive explosion ripped through the home setting it on fire. The coroner said that Kilpatrick’s body was later found in the rubble.

Fifteen people were hurt in the blast. Among them were three firefighters and another gas company employee.

Authorities red-tagged the destroyed home and three others saying they were uninhabitable. Several others got yellow tags for mostly cosmetic damage and can be occupied.

Neighbors said a military family with a year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy escaped serious injury. The mother and the children had just been inside their home and were about to leave when the explosion and fire erupted.

According to SoCalGas, the rupture had been the work of a contractor.

"SoCalGas crews responded to reports of a natural gas line that was damaged by a contractor working on a home on Wooden Horse Trail in the City of Murrieta," SoCalGas spokeswoman Christine Detz said in an emailed statement. "Shortly after crews arrived there was an explosion."

Residents are returning to their homes in the immediate area. Clinton Keith Road was reopened. A Care and Reception center had been opened earlier in the practice gym at Vista Murrieta High School.

Story Date: July 20, 2019