SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @05:44PM
i was watching the prestitutes recently and they were lecturing their audience about how insurance pays more than fema, as if people are not buying huge insurance policies because they think fema pays better or something! the people who want fema's help don't have insurance money, you stupid motherfuckers. of course, the whole rest of the "news" was about how we should listen to what we are told about evac and what not. the roving pigs even screamed at the reporter to get her ass inside, as if he's the boss of the world. the stupid, criminal government passes a law to make it a crime not to listen to evac orders, then doesn't enforce the evac order, then spends tax payer dollars to rescue the people that didn't evac. it's just a con. just put it to a vote. do you want evac to be mandatory or not? no? then we don't rescue people in those areas. now i don't have to shoot trespassing pigs. congratulations, you fucking morons.