Sunday, May 11, 2014
Hank Hill's revenge
Extremely local news, happened within walking distance of my place, though it's not a block I normally walk to.
These folks thought they were barbecuing with charcoal but ended up barbecuing with gas! Hank wins!
Engine 13 from Wellesley and Jefferson arrived first on scene and reported heavy flames shooting 15 feet out of the ground with the home exposed approximately 15 feet from the fire. The fire was allowed to burn until AVISTA arrived and remotely shut down the residential gas leak. The home was completely protected with no structural damage from the natural gas fed fire. The occupants of the home reported that there had been a birthday party with 15 friends enjoying a backyard camp fire. Fortunately most of the friends were dispersing when the fire melted and breached the plastic natural gas line that serviced the home. This resulted in the reported initial gas explosion and the intense gas fed fire.Natural gas was piped into this part of town rather recently, so the PLASTIC pipes went under a lot of existing structures including firepits. Apparently the contractors didn't anticipate that a FIRE might be built in a FIREPIT, which would radiate enough heat into the shallow PLASTIC pipe to melt it. Did you know natural gas was piped through PLASTIC? I didn't. The aboveground fixtures are all cast iron, so I ass-u-me-d the underground part was also iron. ¶ 12:55 PM
