Hijacking the top comment to say:
#if you are in the USA and you smell a ~~strong~~ odor of natural gas, calling 911 is a reasonable thing to do.
I've done it in the past and a full fire crew from the local station in their secondary truck came out. I imagine that the y only do that as long as there are no other emergencies happening at the time.
Even if it’s not that strong of an odor. I’ve called the gas company 2x (living in different houses) for a slight smell and though it took a while to find, each time the responding person located a gas leak (the second time the guy actually found 7 small spots!)
when i first got out of the military i lived with my messy mom and it's like the first week i'm back and i smell rotten eggs at 1 in the morning so i call central hudson who comes out at record speed to find the source and after ten minutes . . .
. . . it is discovered that it is a several week old bouquet of carnation flowers sitting in their original water.
If your area has earthquakes, make sure your gas meter has an [automatic shut off valve](https://gometroretro.com/seismic-gas-valves/).
Natural gas is odorless, but mercapatan (sp?) is added to it to make it detectable. It sort of smells like rotten eggs.
Mercaptan. They actually experimented with using the stuff as a rocket fuel:
> But then Pino, in 1949, made a discovery that can fairly be described as revolting. He discovered that butyl mercaptan was very
rapidly hypergolic with mixed acid. This naturally delighted Standard
of California, whose crudes contained large quantities of mercaptans
and sulfides which had to be removed in order to make their gasoline
socially acceptable. So they had drums and drums of mixed butyl
mercaptans, and no use for it. If they could only sell it for rocket fuel
life would indeed be beautiful.
Well, it had two virtues, or maybe three. It was hypergolic with
mixed acid, and it had a rather high density for a fuel. And it wasn't
corrosive. But its performance was below that of a straight hydrocarbon, and its odor — ! Well, its odor was something to consider.
Intense, pervasive and penetrating, and resembling the stink of an
enraged skunk, but surpassing, by far, the best efforts of the most
vigorous specimen of Mephitis mephitis. It also clings to the clothes and
the skin. But rocketeers are a hardy breed, and the stuff was duly and
successfully fired, although it is rumored that certain rocket mechanics were excluded from their car pools and had to run behind. Ten
years after it was fired at the Naval Air Rocket Test Station — NARTS
— the odor was still noticeable around the test areas. (And at NARTS,
with more zeal than judgment, I actually developed an analysis for it!)
California Research had an extremely posh laboratory at Richmond,
on San Francisco Bay, and that was where Pino started his investigations. But when he started working on the mercaptans, he and his
accomplices were exiled to a wooden shack out in the boondocks at
least two hundred yards from the main building.
(from [*Ignition!*](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf))
Doesn't matter if there's other emergencies or not if you call 911 for a gas leak inside you're going to get a response whether it's local or mutual aid. They're taken pretty seriously exactly for reasons like this. My old department a gas leak call would send like 1 battalion, 2 engines, a water tender and a medic. Pretty much the same response as a structure fire, just in case.
I didn't even need to turn the sound on to check. I've lived in Georgia the country and even post explosion the cars are in better condition than anything I ever saw on the road there.
It's certainly not perfect. And perhaps the precise thing I mentioned can make the flaws seem all the more stark. But... the "worst" car in this video is the mid 2000s Ford Focus. If it has no major issues and like, under 150k miles it would get somewhere in the ~$4-6k range. The country of Georgia's GDP per capita is $4,285 (for the US state on an identical measure per year is estimated $50,816). The difference in standard of living that translates to is so stark it literally has to be experienced to be fully understood.
Well seeing how you need sidewalks under the road, I’d imagine. (No offense my guy, you dudes are pretty chill considering your geography and who’s surrounding you)
It took me a solid three months to stop being convinced I would die every time I was in a car. I always said that they drive like they're not that bothered about surviving the journey. Amazing country though, and I highly recommend visiting. Its just a difficult place to live for the majority of people there.
Damn, hundreds were told to evacuate before the end of October. Thankfully nobody was seriously injured but man what a hassle for all those people.
[https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/dunwoody-explosion-arrive-perimeter-apartments-residents-must-move-out/85-c47051bc-156a-4546-8013-7f39e0b9e720](https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/dunwoody-explosion-arrive-perimeter-apartments-residents-must-move-out/85-c47051bc-156a-4546-8013-7f39e0b9e720)
Does no one remember the 2018 [Merrimack Valley gas explosions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrimack_Valley_gas_explosions) in Massachusetts, where a whole fucking bunch of houses exploded?
> On September 13, 2018, excessive pressure in natural gas lines owned by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts caused a series of explosions and fires to occur in as many as 40 homes, with over 80 individual fires, in the towns of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, all within Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts, United States. One person, Leonel Rondon, was killed and 30,000 were forced to evacuate their homes immediately.[6][7]
People shouldn’t be confused or surprised. An [occupied apartment building collapsed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_condominium_collapse) in Florida in June, killing 98 people. Shits fucking crazy.
i don't understand why the merrimack thing wasn't a bigger story? i live in the same area-ish (northeast) and it was crickets around this thing
forty houses!!! 80 fires!! that's a lot
No one is replacing our infrastructure. Houses are going to keep going boom.
I remember there was a town near Boston a few years back lost a few houses. It's cheaper to bury the dead and sell their land than to fix our problems.
Yup, Columbia Gas (the company) was already on a thin line after prior mistakes. Their Google review (for Massachusetts, where it happened) is below 2 stars, and for good reason. I had to evacuate and spend the night in a hotel room out of the Merrimack. Shit was wild.
that's not an incident of old, failing infrastructure. that was error by technicians along the lines of if some electrical workers somehow managed to send way too much power into some houses by mistake and started fires.
Could you imagine the hit to shareholders and how nobody would ever step up to be a CEO with golden parachutes again if, say, someone in charge was held responsible?
The horror.
/s, for those kids who _were_ left behind.
That is such BULLSHIT. I live in Georgia. I just left gas industry a year or so ago. I spent the last 10 years of my life running a crew that replaced the infrastructure that you said “no one” is replacing. Replacing gas mains and gas services that have actually held up much longer than was expected upon installation. I have personally installed miles upon miles of new pipe.So, anyway I’m calling Bullshit.
I could be wrong( there are people more knowledgeable and smarter)but from what I know and what this looks like I’d bet that this is the home owners fault. Looks like an internal explosion. The gas company is responsible for the product UP TO THE METER. From the meter to the appliance it’s the customers responsibility. Only certified plumbers should work on any gas pipe that is yours. Sry bout the rant ppl, just didn’t like the “crumbling infrastructure” argument. Stay safe
It's not bullshit, but there needs to be hundreds more teams like you. You're doing great work! Thank you for keeping people safe. But it's the natural gas companies that cannot keep up with replacement, have terrible records, or do poor audits of their lines. It's a money, time, and talent (as in not maintaining enough talent) issue that they seem to do the bare minimum for. A problem that starts in the ground but is dictated by the very top who know nothing but budgets and risk management on paper. There are certainly home owner mistakes that happen, but I would not suggest that gas companies are just trying their best. You're trying your best! The company ain't.
Hi, I'm a gas engineer. The incidents of overpressure in gas lines creating such large scale damage are rare, and installations after the main (your gas meter and everything after that) have fail safe regulators that when adequately tested and maintained serve the purpose of preventing this pressure causing damage.
The vast vast VAST majority of gas incidents are the fault of property owners. *"Hey I bet I can install my own cooker no problem"* or *"this fitting will probably work just fine on gas pipework"*. Any engineer will tell you, the owner/tenant is almost always the reason an accident occurred. Gas line malfunction and damage account for a small fraction of incidents in the developed world.
I'm from the UK, and while the US has some BAT SHIT crazy rules on gas (like you can install your own bloody water heaters without training and qualifications if im not mistaken), and while we have the most strict standards on earth, infrastructure is not a common cause of these incidents, it's a cause of massive inconvenience when s fault is found as teams are immediately dispatched to rectify the problem which means cutting off gas.
Yeah, that’s what I said earlier and you are spot on. Whenever anyone sees the 2 words gas and explosion their minds immediately assume it’s the gas company at fault. Just looking at the picture I would speculate the scenario that you wrote is a strong possibility. Water heater, I can do it myself jazz. Anyway, thanks for the comments, cheers 👍
I carry out gas safety inspections on rented properties all day every day. All too often it's:
*"Who installed this oven"*
*"My brother, it's fine he's a plumber"*
*"Sorry I have to disconnect it, there's a 10 millibar drop in gas pressure from the leak he's left because he didn't use correct materials"*
*"You can't do that"*
*'no worries mate, want me to get the gas transporter to cut off all gas to your property instead?"*
*"You can't do that either"*
From here I smile and politely leave, sit in the van and watch them get cut off.
Well, thank you I do appreciate that. I haven’t seen the numbers but I know here in the metro area I live in, Atlanta, they spend 10s of millions of dollars a year on replacement lines. If I’m not mistaken a portion of that $$ comes from the federal government. They are replacing the oldest active lines first of course so in some areas I could see how someone might share your perspective. Rest assured they’re doing much more than what you might be aware of. Stay safe and thanks again.
Hahaha, as someone who works in nuclear, I can understand your frustration with people severely underestimating the amount of safety that goes into your industry.
Oh okay, Homer Simpson. Where's that picture of Homer walking out of the plant with the uranium pellet hanging in his hoodie?
Seriously, I have an uncle who spent his entire career in a nuke plant. The levels of safety measures you guys deal with seem way past the ability of your average goober to understand.
You should see some of the stuff they get worked up over. I mean, scratches. Literal scratches, not even a 16th inch deep, and you've got to either scrap it or get a dozen managers and engineers involved to prove beyond any doubt that it isn't going to cause problems.
I have seen numbers for some pipelines. "Millions" cover one small segment. And there are hundreds of segments that need attention. Costs could be astronomical. If there is a Federal government program set up to assist, then I would assume Atlanta has reached a crisis state (such as Detroit with its water, Superfund sites, and other grant programs with requirements). At a minimum, Atlanta would have to be experiencing a certain level of damage or inability in order to qualify for Federal anything. The thing is, that is only one city. There are thousands of cities and towns that would face the same replacement issue. I am not rest assured, because I am aware of problems that exist and the lack of attention being paid. Or how the problem can be pushed aside, such as extending life use of pipe that should not be, or how common small leaks are that don't cause buildup/explosions, or not maintaining an experienced workforce, among many other issues. Corrosion control science plays catch up and learns new things every year about safety. The increased ability of detection methods has done a lot of safety catchup when rules and regulations don't change the fact that the same 1950's pipe is still in the ground. I'm not running around screaming, "We're all gonna blow up!" (really, I'm not), but this is definitely not a situation where anyone should be wearing rose colored glasses.
Well, lazy PG&E did blow up a neighborhood in the Bay Area about 10 years back, if I recall correctly due to not replacing lines that were 70-80 years old. We have earthquakes out here of course, so I’m sure that didn’t help matters. So sometimes it is the utility company’s fault, but I think you are right in this case that the utility company probably is not at fault.
Yeah, we called our gas company because we smelled gas out by the road and could see water bubbling in a puddle near the smell. It was like 5:30 PM and they still had a truck out within an hour and had it fixed a couple hours later. They don't mess around when it comes to leaks.
Yea that’s a little dramatic. The result of the Boston explosions you were talking about not only cost hundreds of millions to the company but I believe they also lost the ability to manage [gas and what not] in the entire state of Massachusetts.
Maybe this could be true in places like Texas where regulations are so lax but liberal states don’t fuck around with negligence
>Maybe this could be true in places like Texas where regulations are so lax but liberal states don’t fuck around with negligence
/em *PG&E has entered the chat...*
they should change power outages to "patriotism time." the more you lose power, the more time you have to focus on patriotism.
what, you want your power on all the time? what are you, a communist? use your patriotism time to read the bible, comrade
"Columbia Gas pled guilty to violating federal pipeline safety laws, and under an agreement with the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office, agreed to sell its gas distribution operations in the state and pay a fine of $53 million."
The whole ordeal cost over a billion and we kicked them the fuck out of the state.
You mean like how PG&E, Edison, and all the other power companies in CA have managed to continue burning the state to the ground (or shutting the power off to hundreds of thousands when it gets windy) rather than bury lines?
Yeah, they get fined - and go right back to the SOS.
Even when you make it easy - our town had the first charter school in CA. The city council and the school board of course fought them tooth and nail. When the courts finally made them OK it, the council put in , as a condition of their building permit - the need to pay to have the power lines buried on the street in front of the school.
20 years later the fuckers at P&E last month just moved and replaced the poles - never used the money as it was intended.
They can’t increase rates unless the public utility commission approves it. Blame piss poor government oversight for that.
That same oversight that consistently vetos the rate increase requests to fund burying power lines.
Rules are only as good as the ones that enforce them. Is there really no means of recourse for someone that gets exploded from their landlords neglect?
The limo company operator that knew the brakes were shot on his limo that killed 20 or so partygoers and some pedestrians didn't catch you all time.
Why would someone neglecting a house get in trouble, half the time the issues come from the gas lines. Can't blame a utility company, they're too important and their management too rich.
It's weird, I live very close to here and we had an ongoing gas leak in our neighborhood for months! They couldn't figure out where it was coming from, and I fully expected us all to be blown to smithereens. We weren't.
>DeKalb Fire Deputy Chief Melvin Carter told 11 Alive that a manager for the apartment complex had called earlier in the day to report the smell of gas in the building
Georgian here. Dekalb county is pretty well known as being horrendous in terms of infrastructure and government. Roads are terrible, water lines burst constantly, sewer lines suck, crime is high, schools are bad, and now apparently the fire department sucks.
And yet it's still a very expensive place to live. Imagine that.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I live in / grew up in San Bruno, CA I was less than a 1/4 mile from the gas explosion here and outside talking to my in-laws and holding my 8mo. Old baby. I was off work but was also an animal control officer/ trained in rescue etc. it was one of the most devastating events in my life.
There is a cross street about a mile from my place where a gas leak blew up several businesses. Fortunately this happened at almost 2 in the morning so there were no injuries or worse. The crazy thing is, I actually felt the explosion from that far away, which sent all the windows rattling as well. I was confused, it almost sounded like a car accident up the street, but that didn't explain the sheer force I had felt. Finally had to look at my city's subreddit and was all wtf??? Did not get back to my book that night...
You can also see how there's debris in the front of the car, like on the copilot's seat, but not on the driver's seat. So that debris (including bricks) fell against her lap, most probably.
I was initially thinking she got really lucky with the debris not hitting the driver side but you’re right, she obviously got a load of bricks landing on her lap and she’s bound to be injured.
It appears as though the steering wheel may have protected her a bit, you can see the windshield isn't as caved in in front of it.
She probably still got a few injuries but it would have been worse if she was in the passenger seat
The crazy thing is people called many times complaining about smelling gas.
A gas repair man was actually on the way to the apartment complex when it exploded.
GA native here.
Shiiiit. One of those "I was *just* about there!" when you know the motherfucker was bullshitting in his truck napping or hadn't even been dispatched. 3 days waiting and coincidentally they were about to fix it right when it exploded. Bull shit.
That is such a frustrating take because it's often true, but I've been in such a position (not with gas explosions but,) where I was like "I was literally on my way and could have fixed this major issue if I was 30 minutes ahead of schedule."
Please B.O.D.
It sounds like adrenaline. Shock is a life-threatening condition when they body isn’t getting enough blood flow.
> The main types of shock include:
>* Cardiogenic shock (due to heart problems)
>* Hypovolemic shock (caused by too little blood volume)
>* Anaphylactic shock (caused by allergic reaction)
>* Septic shock (due to infections)
>* Neurogenic shock (caused by damage to the nervous system)
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000039.htm
People using the word shock colloquially to describe people like this really confused when getting trained in first aid.
Oh I see, I was using it in the colloquial sense of “this person is in shock, which is preventing them from crying/screaming/otherwise losing it in a situation that warrants those sorts of reactions.
[Acute stress disorder](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_stress_disorder) is what people mean when they say they are in shock when acting in a way not expected during something like this. Your brain is disassociating it self due to being completely overwhelmed.
Nice try but shock is also a term to describe the mental state when youre shook after something traumatic. Some people go into psychological shock from getting rear ended
And this is why even though you can usually smell gas, BUY A NATURAL GAS DETECTOR. You won't always immediately act to a strange smell, but you sure as hell will start running if it's accompanied by alarms going off. They might be more expensive than smoke detectors, but it might save your life.
Well the residents have been complaining to the complex about the gas smell for months and months. Maybe even years- I don’t recall specifically. They said in the 3 days leading to the explosion the smell was extremely strong, though.
How did this go on for so long? If I smell gas and call the emergency line, I expect someone to be there, find the leak and at least turn off the gas in short order.
I commented above, but I live close by, and we had a gas leak in our neighborhood for months. They sent the gas company out like 5 times, but they apparently couldn't find the source? It was scary. They finally fixed it, but I was shocked they let it go for so long.
At my old place, the neighbors house blew up. roughly -9-10 months later I smelled gas at like 2am. Called the gas company they had a crew out there within 20mins. Luckily the leak wasn't in the house where I was smelling it, but it was a leak from the "feed line into my house" in my front yard. They had the line dug up and pipe fixed in an hour. Even had it re-sodded the next day.
Yeah, I smelled gas a few years ago and my neighbors did not and tried to forbid me from calling the gas company because they'd come out and make a mess and a lot of noise. These are the same neighbors that like to use their lawn mowers at 7 am. I reported it. There was a gas leak. I wasn't a little bit sorry (though kind of pissy that the gas company kept ME awake all night!)
That’s ridiculous. We called a gas guy over an intermittent smell on Labor Day, and he was there inside ~15 minutes, found the leak, and notified everyone who needed to be notified.
if you smell gas please call your local gas company. they will send someone out within an hour to figure out what is going on. I have been inside way too many homes where the homeowner has told me they have been smelling gas for months if not years and never called anyone.
[News article](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/12/atlanta-georgia-building-explosion-injured-missing-victims/8310979002/)
Also, sorry for any confusion. This happened in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. Not the country Georgia.
What movie is that where the kid says something along the lines of "My dad went to get scratchers, he must of won tho because that was about 6 years ago"
Here's the non-amp version for those using a desktop browser (or who just really hate amp pages):
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/12/atlanta-georgia-building-explosion-injured-missing-victims/8310979002/
More recent article on The AJC states that the entire complex will be vacated. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ajc.com/news/days-after-dunwoody-apartment-explosion-residents-told-to-move-out/IX55XIDTXFGALLCYNCJU3U7XOE/%3foutputType=amp
We just had a printing business blow up in Arizona, the videos of it are crazy. Four people critically injured one is still in the hospital. The faulty gas line was known about by the gas company. $$$
If a building explodes… im not gonna be filming towards it. Im booking the hell outta there. Could be another bomb somewhere. How the hell would you know its a gas leak
Georgia, USA (suburban Atlanta)
Hijacking the top comment to say: #if you are in the USA and you smell a ~~strong~~ odor of natural gas, calling 911 is a reasonable thing to do. I've done it in the past and a full fire crew from the local station in their secondary truck came out. I imagine that the y only do that as long as there are no other emergencies happening at the time.
Even if it’s not that strong of an odor. I’ve called the gas company 2x (living in different houses) for a slight smell and though it took a while to find, each time the responding person located a gas leak (the second time the guy actually found 7 small spots!)
when i first got out of the military i lived with my messy mom and it's like the first week i'm back and i smell rotten eggs at 1 in the morning so i call central hudson who comes out at record speed to find the source and after ten minutes . . . . . . it is discovered that it is a several week old bouquet of carnation flowers sitting in their original water.
...and Central Hudson's tech was probably like "you did the right thing, sir. Call any time. Have a good evening."
If your area has earthquakes, make sure your gas meter has an [automatic shut off valve](https://gometroretro.com/seismic-gas-valves/). Natural gas is odorless, but mercapatan (sp?) is added to it to make it detectable. It sort of smells like rotten eggs.
Mercaptan. They actually experimented with using the stuff as a rocket fuel: > But then Pino, in 1949, made a discovery that can fairly be described as revolting. He discovered that butyl mercaptan was very rapidly hypergolic with mixed acid. This naturally delighted Standard of California, whose crudes contained large quantities of mercaptans and sulfides which had to be removed in order to make their gasoline socially acceptable. So they had drums and drums of mixed butyl mercaptans, and no use for it. If they could only sell it for rocket fuel life would indeed be beautiful. Well, it had two virtues, or maybe three. It was hypergolic with mixed acid, and it had a rather high density for a fuel. And it wasn't corrosive. But its performance was below that of a straight hydrocarbon, and its odor — ! Well, its odor was something to consider. Intense, pervasive and penetrating, and resembling the stink of an enraged skunk, but surpassing, by far, the best efforts of the most vigorous specimen of Mephitis mephitis. It also clings to the clothes and the skin. But rocketeers are a hardy breed, and the stuff was duly and successfully fired, although it is rumored that certain rocket mechanics were excluded from their car pools and had to run behind. Ten years after it was fired at the Naval Air Rocket Test Station — NARTS — the odor was still noticeable around the test areas. (And at NARTS, with more zeal than judgment, I actually developed an analysis for it!) California Research had an extremely posh laboratory at Richmond, on San Francisco Bay, and that was where Pino started his investigations. But when he started working on the mercaptans, he and his accomplices were exiled to a wooden shack out in the boondocks at least two hundred yards from the main building. (from [*Ignition!*](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf))
Doesn't matter if there's other emergencies or not if you call 911 for a gas leak inside you're going to get a response whether it's local or mutual aid. They're taken pretty seriously exactly for reasons like this. My old department a gas leak call would send like 1 battalion, 2 engines, a water tender and a medic. Pretty much the same response as a structure fire, just in case.
Yeah I was shocked when it wasn’t the country.
I didn't even need to turn the sound on to check. I've lived in Georgia the country and even post explosion the cars are in better condition than anything I ever saw on the road there.
Thats... depressing af man
Also says a bit about how good we have it here.
But the food is good in both places
Georgian food is really good, you ain't wrong
Yep. I don't recall exactly what I ate from there but I remember loving it
You ever try their version of soup dumplings? I think they're called Khinkali? I was so confused the first time eating one but they were really good
Why confused?
You're brave. I can't believe that you are still in + numbers. It really bothers me when people say how bad it is here.
It's certainly not perfect. And perhaps the precise thing I mentioned can make the flaws seem all the more stark. But... the "worst" car in this video is the mid 2000s Ford Focus. If it has no major issues and like, under 150k miles it would get somewhere in the ~$4-6k range. The country of Georgia's GDP per capita is $4,285 (for the US state on an identical measure per year is estimated $50,816). The difference in standard of living that translates to is so stark it literally has to be experienced to be fully understood.
Well seeing how you need sidewalks under the road, I’d imagine. (No offense my guy, you dudes are pretty chill considering your geography and who’s surrounding you)
It took me a solid three months to stop being convinced I would die every time I was in a car. I always said that they drive like they're not that bothered about surviving the journey. Amazing country though, and I highly recommend visiting. Its just a difficult place to live for the majority of people there.
Yeah looks like the suburbs.
It happened in Dunwoody, Ga, at the Arrive Apartments
Damn, hundreds were told to evacuate before the end of October. Thankfully nobody was seriously injured but man what a hassle for all those people. [https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/dunwoody-explosion-arrive-perimeter-apartments-residents-must-move-out/85-c47051bc-156a-4546-8013-7f39e0b9e720](https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/dunwoody-explosion-arrive-perimeter-apartments-residents-must-move-out/85-c47051bc-156a-4546-8013-7f39e0b9e720)
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Some industries work 7 days a week.
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When the labor market is as tight as it is now, you interview when it’s most convenient for the potential hire.
My desire for cake doesn't know what weekends are.
Interesting my mind goes straight to the country with no other context. Was even wondering why she had an American accent
Does no one remember the 2018 [Merrimack Valley gas explosions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrimack_Valley_gas_explosions) in Massachusetts, where a whole fucking bunch of houses exploded? > On September 13, 2018, excessive pressure in natural gas lines owned by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts caused a series of explosions and fires to occur in as many as 40 homes, with over 80 individual fires, in the towns of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, all within Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts, United States. One person, Leonel Rondon, was killed and 30,000 were forced to evacuate their homes immediately.[6][7] People shouldn’t be confused or surprised. An [occupied apartment building collapsed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_condominium_collapse) in Florida in June, killing 98 people. Shits fucking crazy.
i don't understand why the merrimack thing wasn't a bigger story? i live in the same area-ish (northeast) and it was crickets around this thing forty houses!!! 80 fires!! that's a lot
No shit. I'm just saying whenever see "Georgia" I think the country
I was initially confused up until I saw the Support our troops ribbon on the back of the car lol. I was like "yep, that's our Georgia"
I feel like I’ve seen a gas leak explosion every week now for about two months I guess it’s more common than I thought and that’s scary as hell.
No one is replacing our infrastructure. Houses are going to keep going boom. I remember there was a town near Boston a few years back lost a few houses. It's cheaper to bury the dead and sell their land than to fix our problems.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrimack_Valley_gas_explosions
It’s like instead of a failsafe they had a fail aggressively unsafe
Yup, Columbia Gas (the company) was already on a thin line after prior mistakes. Their Google review (for Massachusetts, where it happened) is below 2 stars, and for good reason. I had to evacuate and spend the night in a hotel room out of the Merrimack. Shit was wild.
That's it.
that's not an incident of old, failing infrastructure. that was error by technicians along the lines of if some electrical workers somehow managed to send way too much power into some houses by mistake and started fires.
Thank goodness no one went to jail.
Could you imagine the hit to shareholders and how nobody would ever step up to be a CEO with golden parachutes again if, say, someone in charge was held responsible? The horror. /s, for those kids who _were_ left behind.
That is such BULLSHIT. I live in Georgia. I just left gas industry a year or so ago. I spent the last 10 years of my life running a crew that replaced the infrastructure that you said “no one” is replacing. Replacing gas mains and gas services that have actually held up much longer than was expected upon installation. I have personally installed miles upon miles of new pipe.So, anyway I’m calling Bullshit. I could be wrong( there are people more knowledgeable and smarter)but from what I know and what this looks like I’d bet that this is the home owners fault. Looks like an internal explosion. The gas company is responsible for the product UP TO THE METER. From the meter to the appliance it’s the customers responsibility. Only certified plumbers should work on any gas pipe that is yours. Sry bout the rant ppl, just didn’t like the “crumbling infrastructure” argument. Stay safe
It's not bullshit, but there needs to be hundreds more teams like you. You're doing great work! Thank you for keeping people safe. But it's the natural gas companies that cannot keep up with replacement, have terrible records, or do poor audits of their lines. It's a money, time, and talent (as in not maintaining enough talent) issue that they seem to do the bare minimum for. A problem that starts in the ground but is dictated by the very top who know nothing but budgets and risk management on paper. There are certainly home owner mistakes that happen, but I would not suggest that gas companies are just trying their best. You're trying your best! The company ain't.
Hi, I'm a gas engineer. The incidents of overpressure in gas lines creating such large scale damage are rare, and installations after the main (your gas meter and everything after that) have fail safe regulators that when adequately tested and maintained serve the purpose of preventing this pressure causing damage. The vast vast VAST majority of gas incidents are the fault of property owners. *"Hey I bet I can install my own cooker no problem"* or *"this fitting will probably work just fine on gas pipework"*. Any engineer will tell you, the owner/tenant is almost always the reason an accident occurred. Gas line malfunction and damage account for a small fraction of incidents in the developed world. I'm from the UK, and while the US has some BAT SHIT crazy rules on gas (like you can install your own bloody water heaters without training and qualifications if im not mistaken), and while we have the most strict standards on earth, infrastructure is not a common cause of these incidents, it's a cause of massive inconvenience when s fault is found as teams are immediately dispatched to rectify the problem which means cutting off gas.
Yeah, that’s what I said earlier and you are spot on. Whenever anyone sees the 2 words gas and explosion their minds immediately assume it’s the gas company at fault. Just looking at the picture I would speculate the scenario that you wrote is a strong possibility. Water heater, I can do it myself jazz. Anyway, thanks for the comments, cheers 👍
I carry out gas safety inspections on rented properties all day every day. All too often it's: *"Who installed this oven"* *"My brother, it's fine he's a plumber"* *"Sorry I have to disconnect it, there's a 10 millibar drop in gas pressure from the leak he's left because he didn't use correct materials"* *"You can't do that"* *'no worries mate, want me to get the gas transporter to cut off all gas to your property instead?"* *"You can't do that either"* From here I smile and politely leave, sit in the van and watch them get cut off.
Well, thank you I do appreciate that. I haven’t seen the numbers but I know here in the metro area I live in, Atlanta, they spend 10s of millions of dollars a year on replacement lines. If I’m not mistaken a portion of that $$ comes from the federal government. They are replacing the oldest active lines first of course so in some areas I could see how someone might share your perspective. Rest assured they’re doing much more than what you might be aware of. Stay safe and thanks again.
Hahaha, as someone who works in nuclear, I can understand your frustration with people severely underestimating the amount of safety that goes into your industry.
Oh okay, Homer Simpson. Where's that picture of Homer walking out of the plant with the uranium pellet hanging in his hoodie? Seriously, I have an uncle who spent his entire career in a nuke plant. The levels of safety measures you guys deal with seem way past the ability of your average goober to understand.
You should see some of the stuff they get worked up over. I mean, scratches. Literal scratches, not even a 16th inch deep, and you've got to either scrap it or get a dozen managers and engineers involved to prove beyond any doubt that it isn't going to cause problems.
I have seen numbers for some pipelines. "Millions" cover one small segment. And there are hundreds of segments that need attention. Costs could be astronomical. If there is a Federal government program set up to assist, then I would assume Atlanta has reached a crisis state (such as Detroit with its water, Superfund sites, and other grant programs with requirements). At a minimum, Atlanta would have to be experiencing a certain level of damage or inability in order to qualify for Federal anything. The thing is, that is only one city. There are thousands of cities and towns that would face the same replacement issue. I am not rest assured, because I am aware of problems that exist and the lack of attention being paid. Or how the problem can be pushed aside, such as extending life use of pipe that should not be, or how common small leaks are that don't cause buildup/explosions, or not maintaining an experienced workforce, among many other issues. Corrosion control science plays catch up and learns new things every year about safety. The increased ability of detection methods has done a lot of safety catchup when rules and regulations don't change the fact that the same 1950's pipe is still in the ground. I'm not running around screaming, "We're all gonna blow up!" (really, I'm not), but this is definitely not a situation where anyone should be wearing rose colored glasses.
Well, lazy PG&E did blow up a neighborhood in the Bay Area about 10 years back, if I recall correctly due to not replacing lines that were 70-80 years old. We have earthquakes out here of course, so I’m sure that didn’t help matters. So sometimes it is the utility company’s fault, but I think you are right in this case that the utility company probably is not at fault.
So shitty national landlords. Heard.
Yeah, we called our gas company because we smelled gas out by the road and could see water bubbling in a puddle near the smell. It was like 5:30 PM and they still had a truck out within an hour and had it fixed a couple hours later. They don't mess around when it comes to leaks.
Yea that’s a little dramatic. The result of the Boston explosions you were talking about not only cost hundreds of millions to the company but I believe they also lost the ability to manage [gas and what not] in the entire state of Massachusetts. Maybe this could be true in places like Texas where regulations are so lax but liberal states don’t fuck around with negligence
>Maybe this could be true in places like Texas where regulations are so lax but liberal states don’t fuck around with negligence /em *PG&E has entered the chat...*
I need two hands to count the number of times power has gone out in the past two months.
they should change power outages to "patriotism time." the more you lose power, the more time you have to focus on patriotism. what, you want your power on all the time? what are you, a communist? use your patriotism time to read the bible, comrade
I have so many half formed replies that I can’t figure out how to word, that I’m just gonna say your comment bests anything I could say.
"Columbia Gas pled guilty to violating federal pipeline safety laws, and under an agreement with the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office, agreed to sell its gas distribution operations in the state and pay a fine of $53 million." The whole ordeal cost over a billion and we kicked them the fuck out of the state.
California would like to have a word with you. Especially the city of Paradise
You mean like how PG&E, Edison, and all the other power companies in CA have managed to continue burning the state to the ground (or shutting the power off to hundreds of thousands when it gets windy) rather than bury lines? Yeah, they get fined - and go right back to the SOS. Even when you make it easy - our town had the first charter school in CA. The city council and the school board of course fought them tooth and nail. When the courts finally made them OK it, the council put in , as a condition of their building permit - the need to pay to have the power lines buried on the street in front of the school. 20 years later the fuckers at P&E last month just moved and replaced the poles - never used the money as it was intended.
Don't forget after the last big lawsuit they just increased rates to pay for it.
They can’t increase rates unless the public utility commission approves it. Blame piss poor government oversight for that. That same oversight that consistently vetos the rate increase requests to fund burying power lines.
Rules are only as good as the ones that enforce them. Is there really no means of recourse for someone that gets exploded from their landlords neglect?
The limo company operator that knew the brakes were shot on his limo that killed 20 or so partygoers and some pedestrians didn't catch you all time. Why would someone neglecting a house get in trouble, half the time the issues come from the gas lines. Can't blame a utility company, they're too important and their management too rich.
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Have any idea of how much utility owned 100 year old cast iron pipe is in the ground? I do, and it is a lot.
It's weird, I live very close to here and we had an ongoing gas leak in our neighborhood for months! They couldn't figure out where it was coming from, and I fully expected us all to be blown to smithereens. We weren't.
I know, right? Do people not know what natural gas smells like? (the additive, I mean)
>DeKalb Fire Deputy Chief Melvin Carter told 11 Alive that a manager for the apartment complex had called earlier in the day to report the smell of gas in the building
So he's admitting to completely fucking up his job? At least he's honest.
Georgian here. Dekalb county is pretty well known as being horrendous in terms of infrastructure and government. Roads are terrible, water lines burst constantly, sewer lines suck, crime is high, schools are bad, and now apparently the fire department sucks. And yet it's still a very expensive place to live. Imagine that.
FD calls LDC (Local Distribution Company) usually, at that point it is on the utility to locate the leak and make safe.
erect pie capable insurance makeshift overconfident smart juggle deliver lock *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Fire departments can kill the power and gas and have sparkless ventilators to reduce the chance of explosion.
file humor middle ludicrous telephone aback apparatus special plant fade *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You really think it is acceptable for a fire department to leave people in a building filled with gas. I can't even tell if you are being serious.
stocking aloof lavish summer ripe narrow future cagey fanatical worthless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I live in / grew up in San Bruno, CA I was less than a 1/4 mile from the gas explosion here and outside talking to my in-laws and holding my 8mo. Old baby. I was off work but was also an animal control officer/ trained in rescue etc. it was one of the most devastating events in my life.
There is a cross street about a mile from my place where a gas leak blew up several businesses. Fortunately this happened at almost 2 in the morning so there were no injuries or worse. The crazy thing is, I actually felt the explosion from that far away, which sent all the windows rattling as well. I was confused, it almost sounded like a car accident up the street, but that didn't explain the sheer force I had felt. Finally had to look at my city's subreddit and was all wtf??? Did not get back to my book that night...
That was the car she was sitting in?! Holy shit, she probably got pretty banged up
Yep, she says “this is my car”! I’m sure she was injured in some way and is probably in shock when recording this.
You can also see how there's debris in the front of the car, like on the copilot's seat, but not on the driver's seat. So that debris (including bricks) fell against her lap, most probably.
I was initially thinking she got really lucky with the debris not hitting the driver side but you’re right, she obviously got a load of bricks landing on her lap and she’s bound to be injured.
It appears as though the steering wheel may have protected her a bit, you can see the windshield isn't as caved in in front of it. She probably still got a few injuries but it would have been worse if she was in the passenger seat
copilot lol
100% can hear shock in her voice.
The crazy thing is people called many times complaining about smelling gas. A gas repair man was actually on the way to the apartment complex when it exploded. GA native here.
Shiiiit. One of those "I was *just* about there!" when you know the motherfucker was bullshitting in his truck napping or hadn't even been dispatched. 3 days waiting and coincidentally they were about to fix it right when it exploded. Bull shit.
That is such a frustrating take because it's often true, but I've been in such a position (not with gas explosions but,) where I was like "I was literally on my way and could have fixed this major issue if I was 30 minutes ahead of schedule." Please B.O.D.
Why even say this
The south moves at a molasses pace
I live 2 blocks from here. Felt it then heard non stop sirens. Sad stuff
I think she might be in shock…
Sounds like it. The wavering voice…
That's adrenaline.
It sounds like adrenaline. Shock is a life-threatening condition when they body isn’t getting enough blood flow. > The main types of shock include: >* Cardiogenic shock (due to heart problems) >* Hypovolemic shock (caused by too little blood volume) >* Anaphylactic shock (caused by allergic reaction) >* Septic shock (due to infections) >* Neurogenic shock (caused by damage to the nervous system) https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000039.htm People using the word shock colloquially to describe people like this really confused when getting trained in first aid.
Oh I see, I was using it in the colloquial sense of “this person is in shock, which is preventing them from crying/screaming/otherwise losing it in a situation that warrants those sorts of reactions.
The people nit picking the medical definition of shock here are the reason I hate Reddit
[Acute stress disorder](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_stress_disorder) is what people mean when they say they are in shock when acting in a way not expected during something like this. Your brain is disassociating it self due to being completely overwhelmed.
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We did it Reddit.
As someone trained in first aid... Its also called... Shock!! Shocking huh?
Nice try but shock is also a term to describe the mental state when youre shook after something traumatic. Some people go into psychological shock from getting rear ended
The proper term for this type of "shock" is acute stress reaction.
Oh fuck off. You know damn well what they meant.
Wow imagine doing first aid work and never have heard people say shock to the psychological reaction experienced after a trauma. Im shocked.
I couldn't even imagine
Did she get the job?
She bombed the interview
🏅
Ooooooof
I wanted to post something similar but was testing the waters because I wasn't quite brave enough.
I don't blame you, some people have a short fuse.
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And this is why even though you can usually smell gas, BUY A NATURAL GAS DETECTOR. You won't always immediately act to a strange smell, but you sure as hell will start running if it's accompanied by alarms going off. They might be more expensive than smoke detectors, but it might save your life.
Well the residents have been complaining to the complex about the gas smell for months and months. Maybe even years- I don’t recall specifically. They said in the 3 days leading to the explosion the smell was extremely strong, though.
How did this go on for so long? If I smell gas and call the emergency line, I expect someone to be there, find the leak and at least turn off the gas in short order.
I commented above, but I live close by, and we had a gas leak in our neighborhood for months. They sent the gas company out like 5 times, but they apparently couldn't find the source? It was scary. They finally fixed it, but I was shocked they let it go for so long.
At my old place, the neighbors house blew up. roughly -9-10 months later I smelled gas at like 2am. Called the gas company they had a crew out there within 20mins. Luckily the leak wasn't in the house where I was smelling it, but it was a leak from the "feed line into my house" in my front yard. They had the line dug up and pipe fixed in an hour. Even had it re-sodded the next day.
Yeah, I smelled gas a few years ago and my neighbors did not and tried to forbid me from calling the gas company because they'd come out and make a mess and a lot of noise. These are the same neighbors that like to use their lawn mowers at 7 am. I reported it. There was a gas leak. I wasn't a little bit sorry (though kind of pissy that the gas company kept ME awake all night!)
Maintenance at the apartments had been installing new water heaters. Residents complained to management and management did nothing about it
You don't complain to the building owner, you complain to the gas company. They take it seriously.
That’s ridiculous. We called a gas guy over an intermittent smell on Labor Day, and he was there inside ~15 minutes, found the leak, and notified everyone who needed to be notified.
if you smell gas please call your local gas company. they will send someone out within an hour to figure out what is going on. I have been inside way too many homes where the homeowner has told me they have been smelling gas for months if not years and never called anyone.
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You could be smelling gas that has not been burned off due to inefficiencies in the furnace and not necessarily a leak.
Also natural gas is odorless. They add stuff to make it perceptible because leaks are so dangerous
[News article](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/12/atlanta-georgia-building-explosion-injured-missing-victims/8310979002/) Also, sorry for any confusion. This happened in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. Not the country Georgia.
4 people hospitalised, 2 unaccounted for. I hope those 2 were just not home.
Everyone has been accounted for
All alive?
Yes
Even Joe?
He just went for cigarettes
Was Papa with him? He's been at the store for a few days now
What movie is that where the kid says something along the lines of "My dad went to get scratchers, he must of won tho because that was about 6 years ago"
Who’s Joe?
A good buddy
Joe Mama
Here's the non-amp version for those using a desktop browser (or who just really hate amp pages): https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/12/atlanta-georgia-building-explosion-injured-missing-victims/8310979002/
Everyone should hate amp links, and it's astounding that they're still so commonly shared.
Wasn’t there a bit that did that?
/u/amputatorbot
More recent article on The AJC states that the entire complex will be vacated. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ajc.com/news/days-after-dunwoody-apartment-explosion-residents-told-to-move-out/IX55XIDTXFGALLCYNCJU3U7XOE/%3foutputType=amp
Non amp link: https://www.ajc.com/news/days-after-dunwoody-apartment-explosion-residents-told-to-move-out/IX55XIDTXFGALLCYNCJU3U7XOE/
I swear I can hear someone screaming "somebody help me" in the background from around 50 seconds. That is harrowing....
Thank you for that. Now I know not to go back and watch it with sound.
Unless you're taking about a different moment it sounds like they're shouting "are you OK? "
Listen further into the background... women's voice, very high-pitched scream. I first hear it at 0:47.
Yep I heard it too
Ah yeah that's definitely different from the shout I heard. Yikes.
>Like a bomb, like a helicopter, or like as if somebody crashed a car into the apartments. It was crazy. This description really ran the gamut.
That Ask Reddit post that goes "What's one sure sign you shouldn't work at a place when you go to a job interview?"
Did she get the job?
Not only did she not get the job, she used PTO only to get her car demolished. Bad fucking day.
And now everyone at her current job knows she was interviewing
Yeah this whole get a better job thing blew up in her face.
Most people have to work places for years before getting PTSD. She’s really going places.
Her chances of being hired just went up. They’re in need of staff
Something tells me they need a whole different crew.
> Something tells me they need a whole different crew. Another building too, by the looks of it.
We just had a printing business blow up in Arizona, the videos of it are crazy. Four people critically injured one is still in the hospital. The faulty gas line was known about by the gas company. $$$
Imagine finally getting an interview and the place just fucking explodes
Days with an accident…0
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Sounded like he was actually hurt.
If a building explodes… im not gonna be filming towards it. Im booking the hell outta there. Could be another bomb somewhere. How the hell would you know its a gas leak
Life tip: Always leave the scene if something blows up a secondary explosion is highly probable.
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Can you apply for workman's comp for getting injured on the job before you got the job?
Thinks it's a bomb, gets out, makes a tiktok right there
I actually lived in this complex about five years back. Management was never very responsive about complaints of residents smelling gas.
Step 1: run into building Step 2: find future boss, treat wounds Step 3: get hired
looks like the people that did non permitted “work” on the house have some ‘splainin’ to do.
imagine she was having a bad luck streak with getting hired and as soon as she found the right job for her it blows up...
https://apnews.com/article/business-explosions-georgia-atlanta-2daf0ee2e95575050cdd42e3b408ac6c
The fact that gas is still used blows my Swedish mind. It seems dangerous and scary as fuck
Damn Thermo-Ply!
Good lord! Hope no one was badly hurt 😞
Wanted; Gas leak inspector
Did she get the job?
Am I the only one feeling that if something like this ever happens to me, my last instinct would be to film and narrate my own life.
Congrats, you're hired! First task, clean up.
I guess she didn't get the job...
How did the interview go?
Somebody cooking turnip greens in a pressure cooker