Several House Explosions Lately: I Find This To Be Quite Scary

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
Since December 2023, there were house explosions in Arlington, VA, Crescent Township, PA, Bernville, PA, Sewickly Heights, PA and Wood River, NE.
I saw news about other house explosions last year. Seems to be happening more lately. A few years ago, a house not 2 miles from where I live exploded. According to the news report, firemen got the last of the residents out just 3 minutes before it exploded. Also, there was an explosion in an apartment building a few towns over.

Besides those incidences the reason why this is so scary to me is because more than once, we experienced gas leaks in our complex and firemen had to come out. Once we were evacuated (but we all probably stood too close to the property) and once we were not. After the second time, PSEG contractors came in and poked holes in the walls over the stoves in every apartment in each of our complex's buildings, looking for the source of the leak.

It's unbelievable that some owners didn't want to allow access! Another concern is that someone in my building smokes....and he's not the sharpest pencil in the box. God forbid gas is leaking in the hallway (where we first detect the smell) and he lights up. No smoking allowed in the hallways but people are notorious for not following rules.

Fires are scary enough. Explosions...scarier. Here is the link for the search page that has news and videos about the recent explosions.
Brave Search
 

While gas explosions can be devastating, they're rare.

Let's face it, with gas, we are pumping a highly volatile gas into homes. So we rely on the piping to stay safe, and for people not to mess with it. For the most part, it seems to work. Rarely - it goes boom.
 
A FEW years back my cleaning lady smelled gas when
she opened door to furnace niche where her broom/mop that stuff is stored, I could not smell it...so called gas co and the
guy showed up with tester and said yes you have a leak...dunno why it happened except this old house probably settled some and caused pipe to stretch.....anyhoo, got it fixed that day, and
then 2 weeks later same thing happened again, so landlord had
gas guy put some new pipes in....after that I went to amazon and bought 2 types of leak detector's that run off batteries and periodically check all the piping myself, no probs since,,,,,
 
For your own safety, next time you smell gas, call 9-1-1 and get out of there. Jump in car with a good book or something else to occupy your time and go wait while they inspect the place.

Do you think it's old, deteriorating gas pines causing the explosions? In my general region, underground water pipes break all the time because the county never went through and systematically replaced them. But it's just water. Flooding is bad, but not nearly as bad as explosions.

In my specific region, it seems like they have been digging up one street repeatedly for four years! IDK what is going on with those water and sewer pipes there, but it has needed major work.
 
I have gas cooking and gas heating...

When I was a kid it was quite common for us to smell gas, where there was a leak.. and we'd all be told sternly never to even turn a light on or even light the hob because the electric ignition could cause an explosion..

years ago when my daughter was little.. I had a gas fire in the living room..( don't have that now )... and altho' I couldn't smell anything.. I found that we were both over a period of days, dragging ourselves around, and sleeping all the time.. and so I wondered if we had some kind of gas leak. Called a gas engineer out and sure enough a big leak in the feeder pipe.. . We could have just not woken up one day... :eek:

Nowadays of course in homes which have gas we have the Carbon Monoxide detectors wired in to our homes... . I've never had it go off.. and I hope it never does..
 
hollydolly said:
I have gas cooking and gas heating...

When I was a kid it was quite common for us to smell gas, where there was a leak.. and we'd all be told sternly never to even turn a light on or even light the hob because the electric ignition could cause an explosion..

years ago when my daughter was little.. I had a gas fire in the living room..( don't have that now )... and altho' I couldn't smell anything.. I found that we were both over a period of days, dragging ourselves around, and sleeping all the time.. and so I wondered if we had some kind of gas leak. Called a gas engineer out and sure enough a big leak in the feeder pipe.. . We could have just not woken up one day... :eek:

Nowadays of course in homes which have gas we have the Carbon Monoxide detectors wired in to our homes... . I've never had it go off.. and I hope it never does..
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My relative (not a parent) had CO poisoning. I saved her life. Not bragging. It's a fact. She was confused so she called me instead of 9-1-1. CO poisoning confuses people. I went to her place, could smell the gas, opened the doors and windows and got her out of there to the ER. Heater was off but it was leaking.

I also wrote a letter to her landlord telling them they almost killed her. I never heard back from them, of course. I don't remember if she had complained to them about the wall heater before. I know it was replaced and then she moved shortly after that.

Since that incident, I also have a CO detector in my place if I have gas appliances.

CO detectors are not mandatory on all homes in the U.S. because, as you may have heard, we like "freedom". Freedom to have houses explode! (Sarcasm.)
 
When I first moved to this town, it was harder to find a apartment that took pets. I had 2 cats. Not these two, those are now departed. I inquired at a place and they had a woman who wanted out of her lease because she got a job in another town. I went and looked at the apartment, it was clean and tidy and I noticed she had a lot of scents around. I took the apartment and when I moved in noticed a gas smell. It wasn't real strong but there. The water heater was in an inside closet.

I love how people lie. I didn't have the cats over yet, they were with my mother and stepfather. I reported it and the manager said she had the gas company come out while I was at work. I was OK with that because the cats were not there. She said no gas leak was found. I knew she lied. I call the company. A man was out in a little over an hour, found the leak and fixed it immediately.
 
Remy said:
When I first moved to this town, it was harder to find a apartment that took pets. I had 2 cats. Not these two, those are now departed. I inquired at a place and they had a woman who wanted out of her lease because she got a job in another town. I went and looked at the apartment, it was clean and tidy and I noticed she had a lot of scents around. I took the apartment and when I moved in noticed a gas smell. It wasn't real strong but there. The water heater was in an inside closet.

I love how people lie. I didn't have the cats over yet, they were with my mother and stepfather. I reported it and the manager said she had the gas company come out while I was at work. I was OK with that because the cats were not there. She said no gas leak was found. I knew she lied. I call the company. A man was out in a little over an hour, found the leak and fixed it immediately.
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The manager told a very dangerous lie! Did she live on the premises? I'm guessing she did not.
 
VintageBetter said:
My relative (not a parent) had CO poisoning. I saved her life. Not bragging. It's a fact. She was confused so she called me instead of 9-1-1. CO poisoning confuses people. I went to her place, could smell the gas, opened the doors and windows and got her out of there to the ER. Heater was off but it was leaking.

I also wrote a letter to her landlord telling them they almost killed her. I never heard back from them, of course. I don't remember if she had complained to them about the wall heater before. I know it was replaced and then she moved shortly after that.

Since that incident, I also have a CO detector in my place if I have gas appliances.

CO detectors are not mandatory on all homes in the U.S. because, as you may have heard, we like "freedom". Freedom to have houses explode! (Sarcasm.)
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I thought CO was odorless (?( :unsure:
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I thought CO was odorless (?( :unsure:
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It is. Combustion products may contain an odor though.

I've been subjected to low level CO poisoning. I used to have my workshop in the basement of house we rented. Was a time I'd go down to the basement and I'd start getting headaches within a minute or two. I thought I was having a reaction to something in the air or mold.
That went on for about a week or so. Then one day I smelled gas down there. Called the gas company and they came right out red tagged the furnace. Turns out the flue of the chimney had some interior bricks collapse into it blocking off any exhaust so the furnace was venting to the room.

I couldn't smell anything over the odor of the basement, till it was gas.
 
Remy said:
When I first moved to this town, it was harder to find a apartment that took pets. I had 2 cats. Not these two, those are now departed. I inquired at a place and they had a woman who wanted out of her lease because she got a job in another town. I went and looked at the apartment, it was clean and tidy and I noticed she had a lot of scents around. I took the apartment and when I moved in noticed a gas smell. It wasn't real strong but there. The water heater was in an inside closet.

I love how people lie. I didn't have the cats over yet, they were with my mother and stepfather. I reported it and the manager said she had the gas company come out while I was at work. I was OK with that because the cats were not there. She said no gas leak was found. I knew she lied. I call the company. A man was out in a little over an hour, found the leak and fixed it immediately.
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How stupid does someone have to be to lie about a gas leak?

That is stunning to me. Are people learning about science anymore in high school?
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I thought CO was odorless (?( :unsure:
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It is. Maybe I didn't smell gas? But she was getting loopy, and when I walked in I could see that she looked high. She's not a drinker or a user of anything, not even legal weed, so I could see that something was wrong with her.

I still remember the expression on her face. She looked high. As I urged her to hurry up and get out of there, come with me, she moved very slowly. No urgency at all. If the heater was running I must have shut the heater off. That would seem logical. I would not have let it run.

Are you looking for a perfect, firefighter-trained, EMT-trained response from this Good Samaritan? Going to sue me now for helping her, but not helping perfectly, like a trained EMT might?

I'm a bit touchy about these things because my family does not thank me for the help I have given them. However, they will roundly criticize and condemn me if I do not help them perfectly.
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Update: I was thinking about this a lot today, trying to remember more of it, and I think I did smell gas when I walked in. I think the heater was running and I smelled gas, which surprised me because my relative is not dumb about knowing gas is dangerous. I think I might have said to her, "I smell gas. Can't you smell that?" I dont remember what she said in reply, but I know she did not look right - looked confused and dazed.

I think smelling gas is what prompted me to open the windows and door; that plus her behavior advised me to get her to a doctor. They treated her for CO poisoning at the ER.

I also remember she called me because she was not feeling well, but she didn't want to call the paramedics or an ambulance. She didn't think it was an emergency, and in those days, when insurance may or may not have covered an ambulance ride, I think she didn't want to risk an ambulance bill.
 
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In addition to an uptick in home gas explosions, there also seems to be an increase in cars plowing into homes! It’s kind of like idiots driving at excessive speeds through residential areas lose control, then wonder “Who put that house there?“ 🙀
 
Fyrefox said:
In addition to an uptick in home gas explosions, there also seems to be an increase in cars plowing into homes! It’s kind of like idiots driving at excessive speeds through residential areas lose control, then wonder “Who put that house there?“ 🙀
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Yes, into homes and businesses.
 

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