My aunt's house was blown up in a gas accident, but I've never heard of anything like this : At least 70 houses in 3 towns have been burned or blown up in a string of gas explosions
As always, the firemen & gas co guys are working as well as anyone can
I have no idea how this spread
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/13/reports-fire-and-explosions-lawrence-due-gas-main-explosion/hYtZXOPHIvSo2ZEJpAn3qK/story.html
That's one of the craziest things I've ever read!
At least six people were injured, two critically, according to Lawrence General Hospital. A spokeswoman for the state fire marshal’s office said Thursday evening that investigators are focusing on overpressurization of a gas main owned by Columbia Gas, which serves about 50,000 customers in and around Lawrence and had been upgrading its equipment in the area.
Elsewhere in Lawrence, a fire had flattened a home on Jefferson Street, and a team of firefighters worked into the night to make sure it was under control.
Some of them stood on a brick staircase leading up to where the front door should have been. A blackened wall hung crazily on one side of the ruined structure, and water from the hoses ran down the street.
No residents could be seen in the darkened neighborhood.
For much of the evening, Interstate 495 in the region was gridlocked. Police and emergency vehicles were pushing their way through the traffic, and an exit into downtown Lawrence was closed.
I'm a little surprised by the lack of news on this. I get that the Carolinas are the main focus now, but the only reason I only know anything about this is because of something that popped up on my phone.
Great timing though. There is a NG pipeline being put through my neighborhood in Uniontown/Green Ohio. It looks like it is pipe about 4 ft in diameter.
The local coverage has been huge. It turned out that Columbia is part of a chain of companies with fairly bad safety records, and had somehow pumped the line up to 6 psi, instead of the 0.5 psi it was built for.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/18/columbia-gas-donates-relief-fund-help-residents-lawrence-andover-and-north-andover/I41LNcz56EEzKnCuiKK1KJ/story.html?p1=Article_Related_Box_Article
Lots of people won't get their gas back until November. The state has been trying to give them hot plates & space heaters.
Turns out, most of them have poor electric connections, so a space heater would be more hazard than help
There were commericals in the 1970s, just before the 1st energy crisis. "Nearly everyone you know, lives better electrically, or will"
Anyhow - https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/26/bid-add-space-heaters-stymied-older-electrical-systems/vDj5rd3mjEHk4am3M536vJ/story.html