Still haunted by a natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, south of San Francisco, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in 2010, California state officials and private individuals wasted no time in reacting to a grass fire burning close to a Chevron underground natural gas pipeline near the Contra Costa county city of Bay Point, ordering some 4000 residents to evacuate their homes.

Chevron emergency crews spent the night purging natural gas from the pipeline and then injected nitrogen to extinguish any remaining fire in the vault, where Chevron workers access pipeline valves.

The fire was reportedly caused by an electrical power line falling, which started a fire near a valve junction on the Northern California Gas Line near Pittsburg, according to officials.

Chevron representatives are on scene and inspected the vault to make sure there was no remaining danger so people could return home. And at a news conference, officials hailed the operation as a success, saying there were no injuries to residents or safety workers and no homes were damaged.