Re: Gas explosions in Mass

2
From the article;
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency blamed the fires on gas lines that had become over-pressurized but said investigators were still examining what happened.
This is what I immediately suspected. Someone set a regulator incorrectly or forgot to install one and blasted high pressure gas into low pressure lines and regulators.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: Gas explosions in Mass

4
Columbia Gas better have plenty of insurance for deaths, injuries and losses. And then there will be fines from the state public utilities agency.
Authorities said an estimated 8,000 people were displaced at the height of Thursday's post-explosion chaos in three towns north of Boston that were rocked by the disaster. Most were still waiting — shaken and exhausted — to be allowed to return to their homes.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to help investigate, saying pipelines are within its jurisdiction.

The rapid-fire series of gas explosions that one official described as "Armageddon" ignited fires in 60 to 80 homes in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, forcing entire neighborhoods to evacuate as crews scrambled to fight the flames and shut off the gas and electricity.

Gas and electricity remained shut off Friday in most of the area, and entire neighborhoods were eerily deserted.

The three communities house more than 146,000 residents about 26 miles north of Boston, near the New Hampshire border. Lawrence, the largest of them, is a majority Latino city with a population of about 80,000.

"It looked like Armageddon, it really did," said Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield. "There were billows of smoke coming from Lawrence behind me. I could see pillars of smoke in front of me from the town of Andover."

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency blamed the fires on gas lines that had become over-pressurized, but said investigators were still examining what happened.

Columbia had announced earlier Thursday that it would be upgrading gas lines in neighborhoods across the state, including the area where the explosions happened. It was not clear whether work was taking place there Thursday.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow ... story.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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