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posted by takyon on Friday September 14 2018, @06:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the whoops,-wrong-valve dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @09:01PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @09:01PM (#735056)

    So if I get this I also need to buy an antenna to put on the roof?
    https://www.amazon.com/Yaesu-FT-817ND-Compact-Amateur-Transceiver/dp/B008B8YLIK [amazon.com]

    And also its only 5W which seems too low, shouldnt someone get a 100 W power supply to use it right? What is the range?

  • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday September 14 2018, @09:29PM (1 child)

    by urza9814 (3954) on Friday September 14 2018, @09:29PM (#735075) Journal

    It does include an antenna, but bigger is generally better :) You do need to be careful with your selection there though if you wanna transmit, any antenna will be fine to receive but to transmit you need an antenna that's a proper ratio to the transmission frequency.

    Also be aware that the FT817 (and probably most others) can receive a pretty wide range of frequencies but they limit which ones you can transmit on. Mostly just the ham bands.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @04:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @04:11PM (#735317)

      Thanks, really I just want to listen. I'm sure once I get it I will want to play with transmitting too though.

  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday September 14 2018, @09:30PM (1 child)

    by RS3 (6367) on Friday September 14 2018, @09:30PM (#735076)

    I'm no HAM but I'll toss in my EE $0.02: 5W can go around the world depending on frequency, atmospheric conditions, and antenna gain (and receiver antenna gain, electronic gain, etc.) I see some power amps for you: http://yaesuft817.com/wp/amplifier-for-yaesu-ft-817-qrp/ [yaesuft817.com]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @04:28PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @04:28PM (#735327)

      Thanks, yea I was thinking there may be other "modules" I would need to get the most out of this. I just didnt want it to turn into a thing where I keep ordering another part I didnt realize I would need.