Two Southern California Gas Co. workers will be honored by county Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Kathryn Barger Wednesday for helping to save a Woodland Hills couple in their 80s from an explosion and fire that gutted their home.
Hector Rocha, a customer service representative, and Jeff Catton, an energy technician, are credited with getting the couple out of the home on June 20. According to SoCalGas, the couple called the company to say a plumber who had done some work at their home in the 4900 block of Marmol Drive may have severed a gas line.
Rocha immediately advised the couple to leave the home, then dispatched a repair crew to the scene, according to the Gas Co.
Catton arrived on the scene a short time later and parked “a safe distance” from the house and helped guide the couple away from the home, officials said. Moments later, an explosion occurred in the home, which erupted in flames.
It took fire crews nearly two hours to douse the flames, but no injuries were reported.
Rocha and Catton will be honored during a State of the County meeting hosted by the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.
