A natural gas pipeline explosion ripped through a neighborhood in a San Francisco suburb on Thursday, starting fires that burned more than 50 buildings and killing at least one person, officials said.

As many as 25 people were injured by blast and flames in San Bruno, a few kilometers from the San Francisco International Airport, and have been taken to local hospitals and hospitals with burn treatment centers. The local coroner's office reported one fatality.

'We have confirmed that there are 53 structures, those are mostly homes, that were lost, about 120 damaged,' Kelly Huston, an assistant secretary with the California Emergency Management Agency, told KTLA TV.

The gas line belongs to the northern California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co, the company said in a statement.

'Though a cause has yet to be determined, we know that a PG&E gas transmission line was ruptured. If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of the incident, we will take accountability,' the statement said.-Reuters