A true example of being your brother’s keeper
Sunnydale, San Francisco – On Wednesday, February 12th, 2025, our IBEW 1245 GC gas crew was involved in a serious safety incident, challenging our members beyond their wildest imaginations.
It started like any normal working day for the GC gas crew headquartered out of the PG&E Potrero substation in San Francisco.
IBEW 1245 Business Representative Phuong Tran with GC Gas Crew Members (l-R) Jeff Gallagher, Felix Navarro, Roger Nguyen, Jose “Ivan” Murillo, Toamalama “Lama” Tufono
The crew’s job for the day was to replace and re-run underground gas lines in the Sunnydale neighborhood. The neighborhood was known to be a tough area. On many occasions, crews have been accompanied by a police escort while working in the area.
Unfortunately, on this particular day, a police escort was not available to accompany the crew as they worked.
Around 1pm that day, while IBEW 1245 members were working at the jobsite, two separate third parties opened fire on each other from vehicles. In the blink of an eye, the gas crew was caught in the crossfire. Members took cover wherever they could while bullets flew. More than 40 gunshots were fired.
“It was a scary situation, when the shots rang out. I just reacted by getting out of my backhoe and jumping from it into the trench I was digging below for cover,” said Backhoe Operator Jeff Gallagher.
“We yelled out for everyone to get down. It was a crazy situation,” added Gas Street Fitter Roger Nguyen.
Regrettably, one of PG&E’s traffic control flagging contractors suffered a gunshot wound to the lower leg. One of IBEW 1245 members, Toamalama “Lama” Tufono was next to the flagger who was shot.
“We were in the direct crossfire of the shooting. I got down when the gunshots started. I could see that he was shot, and my thoughts were flying in my head. I didn’t know if I should just stay down because they were still shooting. But something in me told me I had to try to do something, or I could not live with myself, so I just reacted,” said Gas Utility Worker Toamalama Tufono.
Brother Tufono, who has only been working at PG&E for four months, got up and dragged the injured PG&E contractor to safety behind a car while the shooting continued. When both third party vehicles stopped shooting and left the jobsite, EMS and police arrived on scene, and treated the traffic control flagger who was shot. The injured contractor was taken to the hospital, was treated for the gunshot wound and released.
The next day after the shooting, IBEW 1245 Safety Director Jody Castro and I met with the workgroup in San Francisco, to listen, show support and help the crew process what had happened.
Drawing on the experience of police and fire who have developed peer support programs for co-workers following traumatic safety incidents, IBEW 1245 is developing a “Critical Incident Stress Management” (CISM) to support our members following serious traumatic events like the one our GC Gas Crew crew experienced. The program provides training and therapeutic support for members directly involved, their co-workers and families.
Thanks to quick action of everyone on the crew, especially brother Tufono who risked his life for another, the incident on Sunnydale Street did not end with anyone losing their life.
The entire IBEW Local 1245 is proud and grateful for our members’ actions that day.
It is a true example of being your brother’s keeper. It is not easy to show up every day in San Francisco and perform gas and electrical work for the public, and no one expects to be involved in such a scary incident like our crew just went through. I am deeply proud to represent the IBEW 1245 members in San Francisco who service their community.”
– IBEW 1245 Business Representative Phuong Tran