Gas leak explodes house near me...and a PSA

[Buckalew11]

I heard about this this morning. I had not heard they found the son's body. how sad.

I'm brand new to gas. We have 2 gas fireplaces and I do have a plug in detector but I'm still worried. Ugh.

My prayers go out to that family.

 

[luvmyfam444]

I've been paranoid for years about gas - in our last house it had a new gas stove that we took out & bought an electric one - I've just a scardey cat - I would have changed the gas hot water heater if I could have. It also had the gas furnace thingy in the bathroom & I HATED to have it lit - dh would light it & only if we were all bathing in a row & pretty much turned it off afterwards - loved how warm it made the room - but that's it!

Thanks for the info - I had no idea not to turn on a light. I also didn't know why I had the carbon monoxide dector - LOL I didn't realize it was gonna pick up gas - I know that smell.

 

[EMom]

Just an FYI, natural gas is also odorless, the gas company ADDS the sulfur smell to help detect leaks.

I run like a sceaming mimi from the "smell" of natural gas. I grew up in East Texas, near the site of the 1937 New London School Disaster, in which a natural gas explosion caused the death of at least 300 students and teachers. It would have been worse, but many students had already gone home for the day. They really never got a definite count on how many died, because it was during the oil boom and kids came and went all the time, as their parents moved from town to town following the work with oil rigs. A family might stay in a town a few weeks or months at most and then move on. So some of the kids that died could have only been enrolled for a few days. It was a time of great mobility and many of the family were transients....working transients, but still transients. When the school blew up, everyone rushed in to help with the rescue and "new" families who realized their children were among the dead were thought to have just left town. A lot of people back then just buried their dead, not using mortuaries or anything. So the 300-ish estimate is a minimum. It is still the worst school disaster in US history.

At any rate, that explosion is why the nasty smell was added to natural gas. Texas realized that if the gas had not been odorless, the leak might have been detected and all those people might not have died. They passed laws to add the scent so people would have a way to be alerted to the leaks. The rest of the nation followed suit.

Anyway, growing up in East Texas, every single year on the anniversary of the disaster, they covered it again. It was beaten into our heads. Run from gas leaks because gas leaks will blow you to kingdom come. You drive through town and the main road separates around a big monument to those who died. It is a tragedy that so many had to die to make someone realize odorless gas in our homes could be a danger.

 

[disneymarie]

So sad! The story said that the gar fireplace had just been serviced the week before but that was what caused the house to blow up. It sounds like someone didn't do a very good job.

I would guess with an explosion that size it was not the fire place as they thought. The readings done would have identified that.Gas lays low.....the tip off is the son in the basement. If he used a light switch or anything with spark and the gas was pocketed nearby, that was the mechanism to blow up.

From experience this seems like a leak that was through the system of gas into the home. it builds in the low lying part of the home. The odor is added to the gas as protection. Somewhere else in that home a pocket sat until a spark from an ignitor set it off.

The pipes coming in from the provider could erode, the connections coming in the house could have up-heaved from weather changes, rain, etc.
The fire marshal will have difficulty now, he will have to see where the worse damage area is and what appliance or pipes are there.

If the fireplace in fact were the issue, the family could not have stayed in the home without getting so ill they would leave. I think a slight odor came up through the pipes to the fireplace.
Somewhere lower lying the gas was collecting. It can even travel through the ground looking for a way to escape which could be their basement.

I worked on a case with an underground tank that the pipes into the home had shifted during yard work. In an attempt to empty the tank, the gas had already pooled into the basement near the entry steps. The owner came home, did not smell anything in the home, but did in the garage. He placed a dinner in the microwave walked out to talk to a repair man, and as left the entire near million dollar home blew out near the steps and garage, leveled the home and then burnt everything out.

A miracle he left the home, but the fire dept had a lot of explaining why the home was not checked for levels when they responded to the call.

Prayers for the family, speedy recovery, and I hope the son was gone out for the night too,
di

 

[tchrrx]

We have a gas fireplace. We turned it on a few weeks ago and the entire house had a 'gassy' smell to it. I've decided not to use it until we can get it checked out. Of course, this helps me realize that even though it's not on and burning, it could still be deadly. I'm going to have DH call the gas company today!

 

[manning]

A natural gas explosion has a huge punch to it.

A number of years ago we had a house in our town blow up. The house was completely leveled and the houses on both sides were knocked off their foundations and had to be condemned.