Massive gas line explosions and evacuations north of Boston

Sounds like a lot of individual fires. Not quite like the closest thing I recall - the San Bruno pipeline explosion that leveled a neighborhood.
 


Maybe The Floating Bear can give a better synopsis, but from what I understand, at around 4:30 this afternoon, a high pressure gas line was inadvertently turned on, and somehow gas traveled to several different towns causing many different explosions and fires. Officials have recommended those whose homes have gas from this company to evacuate, and to not light any candles! Power is off and lines are being depressurized. Roads look like those from areas of the hurricane down south! They're calling it a catastrophic event.
 
News conference coming up. They're still trying to ascertain exactly how it all happened.
 
That's my understanding as well, @Pea-n-Me...it's customers of Columbia gas. They were recommending people not use their cell phone or even turn on a light switch during to risk of a spark. They just had a natural gas expert on the news and he said there could be issues/risks as the gas levels in some of the houses go down too. I didn't know this, but he said there's an over-saturation point in which there isn't a risk of ignition, but then as it decreases, there could be a risk again!?
 


TheFloatingBear said:
That's my understanding as well, @Pea-n-Me...it's customers of Columbia gas. They were recommending people not use their cell phone or even turn on a light switch during to risk of a spark. They just had a natural gas expert on the news and he said there could be issues/risks as the gas levels in some of the houses go down too. I didn't know this, but he said there's an over-saturation point in which there isn't a risk of ignition, but then as it decreases, there could be a risk again!?
Click to expand...
Yes. DH was saying that he was listening to someone on the radio who was saying that, with that type of pressure, if you lit your gas stove, say, that the flame could shoot up a foot high, turning it into something like a blow torch. This type of thing could've happened in all of these buildings.
 
Yikes...and now they're saying they are dealing with low water pressure too. I'm sure the power outages are complicating things as well.
 
TheFloatingBear said:
That's my understanding as well, @Pea-n-Me...it's customers of Columbia gas. They were recommending people not use their cell phone or even turn on a light switch during to risk of a spark. They just had a natural gas expert on the news and he said there could be issues/risks as the gas levels in some of the houses go down too. I didn't know this, but he said there's an over-saturation point in which there isn't a risk of ignition, but then as it decreases, there could be a risk again!?
Click to expand...

The way this article describes it, "too rich" of a fuel mixture won't auto ignite. It's called the "upper flammability limit". I suppose this is what happens in an older car engine when there's too much fuel in the chamber and it won't ignite.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammability_limit#Upper_flammability_limit
 
bcla said:
The way this article describes it, "too rich" of a fuel mixture won't auto ignite. It's called the "upper flammability limit". I suppose this is what happens in an older car engine when there's too much fuel in the chamber and it won't ignite.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammability_limit#Upper_flammability_limit
Click to expand...

I don't know much about this kind if thing...So could there be more potential problems when the saturation level dissipates in some of these houses and goes back in that flammability range?
 
I heard this on the radio and immediately turned on the TV news. It's really scary!
 
TheFloatingBear said:
I don't know much about this kind if thing...So could there be more potential problems when the saturation level dissipates in some of these houses and goes back in that flammability range?
Click to expand...

I'm not really a flammability expert, but there's the gist that one can manage to even put out a fire with enough fuel to smother it. I recall reading an article about a bunch of guys at Bell Labs who had the brilliant idea to try and reenact the scene from Die Hard 2 where the trail of jet fuel is lit with a Zippo, and they couldn't get it to light.

Of course this isn't something you'd stake your life to. Aren't they telling people to get the heck out of there?
 
bcla said:
I'm not really a flammability expert, but there's the gist that one can manage to even put out a fire with enough fuel to smother it. I recall reading an article about a bunch of guys at Bell Labs who had the brilliant idea to try and reenact the scene from Die Hard 2 where the trail of jet fuel is lit with a Zippo, and they couldn't get it to light.

Of course this isn't something you'd stake your life to. Aren't they telling people to get the heck out of there?
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely. It sounds like from the press conference that they are taking it into account as they depressurize the lines, but they said they can't guarantee public safety at this point ( of couse). They said it could be days before people are allowed back into their homes.
 
My dd lives 35 miles north of the explosions in Bedford NH.
Scary, she works near the area.

We just read there is over 70 incidents of explosions.
 
I go to college in the area. My campus wasn't affected but there were fires not too far away. The buildings on campus were evacuated and gas lines shut down. Power was shut off to most buildings as well. Classes are cancelled today. There was no way to get home last night due to the highways being closed. My dad works about 15 minutes away so he was able to pick me up this morning and I drove home from his work. My heart goes out to the affected people, especially the family of the 18 year old who was killed. Thanks to all the first responders who went to the area - many traveled an hour or more etc.
 
AlyssaBunny said:
I go to college in the area. My campus wasn't affected but there were fires not too far away. The buildings on campus were evacuated and gas lines shut down. Power was shut off to most buildings as well. Classes are cancelled today. There was no way to get home last night due to the highways being closed. My dad works about 15 minutes away so he was able to pick me up this morning and I drove home from his work. My heart goes out to the affected people, especially the family of the 18 year old who was killed. Thanks to all the first responders who went to the area - many traveled an hour or more etc.
Click to expand...
That must've been so scary for her, I'm glad she's ok. It's unbelievable how much this is affecting so many people - and schools, businesses, etc. - in the area. Total disruption. Almost everything was shut down. The young man who died was sitting in his car when a chimney fell on him.
 
crazy stuff, I'm glad we get our natural gas from National Grid and not Columbia. How does that even happen? :sad2::sad2:
 
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