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An estimated 60 to 80 fires, 3 explosions, and numerous gas leaks were reported last night in the towns around Lawrence, MA (north of Boston). The incident has been linked to lines operated by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts. Columbia Gas has not released an official cause yet, but MEMA (The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency) and some of the local firefighters have speculated that the cause was an over-pressurized gas line. Columbia was conducting planned upgrades on the lines at the time of the incident. One person has been killed; 25 more have been injured.
I was listening to the fire radio as it happened and it sounded like complete chaos -- it was just the dispatch, but there was not a single moment of silence as they scrambled to get crews to all of the affected areas and coordinate the response across four separate towns (Lawrence, Andover, North Andover, and Methuen.) The local first responders were initially asking residents to shut off their gas lines; this quickly changed to calls for all Columbia Gas customers to evacuate, which then increased to an order for immediate evacuation of the entire area. Overnight police and fire officials were going door-to-door enforcing the evacuation, and it is not known at this time when residents may be allowed to return. The electric service has been shut down to the entire area to limit possible sources of ignition, and officials have stated there are over 8000 homes which need to be individually inspected before the residents can return.
So far, Columbia Gas has not provided any confirmation or explanation of the exact cause of this disaster...but I'm sure we've got some people here who have some speculation to offer...
The local Eagle Tribune has a number of articles with further information, and there's limited coverage in national sources like CNN.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DrkShadow on Friday September 14 2018, @07:10PM (10 children)
According to Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-massachusetts-explosions/gas-explosions-drive-thousands-out-of-homes-in-boston-suburbs-idUSKCN1LU0W6 [reuters.com]
This struck me a little off. Doesn't every gas meter have a regulator attached to prevent exactly this? It feels like for 6000 homes having 1 in 100 with a bad regulator is a stretch. I got a call a few months ago that the gas provider is required to replace the gas meter every seven years, but I don't know if this applies to the regulator as well, or if these people perhaps skipped their replacement.
A gas regulator like this one:
* http://www.dormont.com/products/r325 [dormont.com]
Doesn't every home have one on their meter? I've never noticed a home lacking one.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Friday September 14 2018, @07:20PM
Can't recall where exactly, but I think I did read something about the pressure being so much that it blew out the regulators in peoples' homes. Definitely not an official statement though, but it seems plausible...that regulator has to have an upper limit. And that could explain why some houses blew and others didn't -- I'd imagine some regulators might handle the pressure better than others. But you'd think there'd be pressure sensors and regulators on the gas main too which should prevent that...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @07:32PM
I heard they were doing maintenance on the lines (from a friend in MA), so maybe there was something done wrong leading to a rapid pressure increase?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @07:53PM (5 children)
I think residential gas lines are very low pressure. Something like 14kpa (2psi).
If so, it would take much to break them.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @08:49PM (4 children)
Its complicated, anon. like 1 to 10 atmospheres on the street side of the regulator, and literally only a quarter of a psi or so on the house side.
My guess is most of the explosions are outside / adjacent to the house. Where I live, regulator/meters are all on the outside of the house, I suppose if in MA they put them inside houses the result could be spectacular.
Large scale natgas systems are EXACTLY like large scale water systems or electrical systems, as stuff rots away over time the peak survivable pressure of any component will slowly drop randomly based on local corrosion, age, maint if any, etc. So "naturally" you'll get one interesting fire per year if the main line pressure is perfectly constant for decades. If, however, someone screws up a repair or god forbid tries to upgrade and the pressure on the main side goes from 20 PSI to 40 PSI, then you'll instantly get like 25 years worth of leaks all in one afternoon. The pipe that was going to rust out and leak in 2035 because it can only survive 35 psi today will burst on the same day as the pipe thats a little more rotten and can only survive 34 PSI and would have naturally burst on 2033 and the same day as the slightly less rusted pipe that could survive 36 psi that was gonna burst in 2037; the exact value doesn't matter if the system gets whacked with 40 psi one afternoon.
Its unusual for regulators to burst and free flow pressure; I suppose it does occasionally happen, and whacking the main line pressure one afternoon would burst 25 years worth of regulators in one afternoon.
This situation has come up with very divergent technologies; consider the stereotypical nuclear electromagnetic burst; ALL power transformers fail eventually on a century line timeline, but a nice EMP strike makes 30 years of them fail the same instant, which is a problem for the electrical utility. Ditto car damage via EMP, 5% car electrical failure is maybe pretty good odds for an annual event and it sounds like no big deal, other than 5% failing all during one rush hour would make quite a mess for a couple days, if might take months to get all of them online again.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @09:47PM (3 children)
Oh follow up finally a decent SN automobile analogy based on a true story from my past. My Dad's coworker replaced his water pump on a 70s era Ford, back when that was a daily driver not a collectors item, and replacing the water pump boosted the water pressure and only took an afternoon to "fix" his overheating problem, whereas fixing a bunch of leaks caused by the higher pressure took the next month's worth of weekend. His advice was never replace a water pump unless you replace every hose because hoses are cheap but having to spend time replacing all of them separately over the next month and then refill the radiator as they slowly individually fail is a PITA. I have no idea if a half century of technological progress make that advice more or less applicable, but apparently if Carter is president its a good idea.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 14 2018, @10:32PM
That advice seems to still be applicable. For as long as hoses are made of materials that decompose in heated environments, and suffer from exposure to UV, ozone, and the occasional salt baths, that advice will remain applicable.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Saturday September 15 2018, @05:11AM (1 child)
It may not have been the water pump that caused the leaks. Merely putting in new coolant could have this effect.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:52AM
In forty years of being a mechanic, the only time I have seen new fluids result in leaks, was in vehicles parked for multiple years. The gaskets get dried out and shrink, hoses rot. It was usually the worst for fuel systems, especially naturally aspirated systems. Even maintained vehicles that are rarely driven sometimes fall victim to what we (when i worked at a dealership) called 'lotitis.' Fuel systems were the worst culprit, followed by cooling systems, then tires and suspension bushings.
New water pumps I've seen blow out old hoses, new lower bearings blowing out top ends, new top ends blowing out bearings etc. All these have in common increasing pressure on older parts of the engine that were not worked on.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 14 2018, @08:28PM
I'm wondering if it's continuous over-pressure, or just high pressure transients. The first would seem to require gross incompetence on the part of the operators and/or system designers. The latter might just be ordinary incompetence on the part of the system designers.
Of course, if it's terrorists (from the protected groups), or aliens, or visitors from the future, or another flap in the Wizarding world, that you'll only be able to read about in the tabloids.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @09:38PM
Probably, "inspect". Also its strictly state law dependent. I live in an area where the frost depth is much deeper than Florida. Also I live in an area where lightning is rare enough that they tolerate joint trenches (electric and gas thru the same trench, sounds insane, but if you don't get hit by lightning I guess its safe enough?)
Something I don't understand about joint trenches is the one thing I'd want far away from a pickaxe strike thru my natgas line would be the electric line. Water, fine. Sewer, OK. Cable, OK. But gas and electric inches apart? Ehhhh...