'There are so many fires, you can't see the sky': Up to 50 properties EXPLODE

[Cebu_4_2]

'There are so many fires, you can't see the sky': Up to 50 properties EXPLODE in flames in three Boston suburbs after 'gas main meltdown' - as residents are told, if you smell gas 'get out now!'



At least 50 fires are being reported in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover
Officials said problems with the natural gas system caused multiple explosions
Methuen Police Chief said there are so man fires 'you can't even see the sky'
There are 25 to 30 actives fires in Andover and at least 18 in Lawrence
Police are urging residents to leave their homes if they smell gas
At least one home has been demolished, according to local media outlets

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6165893/Explosions-damage-homes-sky

Officials in Massachusetts say there are 60 to 100 fires burning in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover after problems with the natural gas system.
Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon said multiple people have been hurt but did not specify the extent of their injuries.

The Massachusetts State Police said in a tweet on Thursday that residents in the affected areas who have gas service from Columbia Gas 'should evacuate their homes immediately if they have not done so'.

If residents who don't have service from Columbia smell gas in their home they are urged to leave.

'Gas lines are currently being depressurized by the company it will take some time,' police said.

Lt. Edward Guy, spokesman for the Andover Police Department, said: 'There are multiple basement fires in Andover. It's some kind of gas issue. We urge residents if they are smelling gas to get out of the house and contact 911. We will get units out there.'

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/13/23/502573CD00000578-6165893-image-a-25_1536877612946.jpg
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At least 50 fires have been reported in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover after problems with the natural gas system

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/13/23/502576F500000578-6165893-image-a-26_1536877616753.jpg
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Officials said residents should leave their homes if they smell gas

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/13/23/5025724900000578-6165893-image-a-27_1536877623122.jpg
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The fires started Thursday in parts of Massachusetts and are being attributed to problems with the gas system

Residents in Andover received a robo call on Thursday asking them to shut off the gas in their homes.

According to The Eagle Tribune (http://www.eagletribune.com/news/update-at-least-fires-reported-in-lawrence-andover-and-north/article_900f6622-b795-11e8-9830-73ead08331b4.html), officials have alerted Holy Family Hospital in Methuen to expect multiple admissions.

Solomon said there are so many fires 'you can't even see the sky'. The fires have destroyed at least 50 homes, according to reports.

An emergency operations center has been set up at the Public Safety Complex in Andover and an emergency system protocol has been enacted.

Officials are using Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority buses as evacuation vehicles.



Residents in Andover can seek shelter at North Andover High School as police and fire crews work to battle the blazes. The gas at the school has been shut off to ensure there is no explosion.

According to reports at least one home has been demolished.

Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasque told The Eagle Tribune that he's 'never seen anything like this.'

[osoab]

Someone messing with smart meters?

[Cebu_4_2]

Read in the comments something about over pressurized. Not sure how that happens but to pop over 50 houses meters it has to be huge pressure.

[Cebu_4_2]

Lawsuit targets Massachusetts utility over deadly gas explosions

BOSTON (Reuters) - A resident of a Massachusetts city rocked by last week’s deadly gas blasts that damaged dozens of homes sued utility operator NiSource Inc on Tuesday, accusing it of inadequately maintaining its distribution system.

FILE PHOTO: A burnt Columbia Gas of Massachusetts envelope sits on the sidewalk outside a home burned during a series of gas explosions in Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S., September 14, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
The proposed class action lawsuit targets NiSource and its subsidiary Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, which services Andover, North Andover and Lawrence, three communities northwest of Boston that staged large-scale evacuations following the Thursday afternoon blasts that killed one person and injured at least 25.

The lawsuit in Essex County Superior Court is the first to be filed after Thursday’s explosions. It claims the gas pipeline system used by Columbia Gas to service those communities was “poorly maintained, antiquated, obsolete, and highly dangerous.”

Merrillville, Indiana-based NiSource did not respond to a request for comment. It has set up set up a phone center and an office to accept residents’ claims for property damage and costs related to the fires and evacuation.

The lawsuit said the company failed to implement reasonable safety and leak prevention practices and failed to replace obsolete high-risk materials in the system, which used pipelines constructed of cast and wrought iron rather than plastic.

FILE PHOTO: A home sits collapsed where a man died in a series of gas explosions in Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S., September 14, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
The complaint, filed by Lawrence resident Francely Acosta, who was forced to evacuate, accused NiSource of negligence and creating a public nuisance by failing to maintain gas pressure in its “antiquated” system, which it blamed for Thursday’s explosions.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages on behalf of residents affected by the incident and an order requiring NiSource to stop operating its system in an unsafe manner.

The blasts on Thursday destroyed as many as 80 houses in the largest natural gas pipeline accident in the United States since 2010.

Some 8,000 people were displaced amid evacuations of entire neighborhoods as firefighters raced for hours from one blaze to another and utility crews rushed to shut off gas and electricity.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, which Columbia Gas has said affected 8,600 of its customers.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt on Sunday said over-pressurization of the gas distribution system was to blame and that the agency was looking at pressure sensors attached to a line that was taken out of service before the explosions.

In a letter to NiSource on Monday, U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats of Massachusetts, said the pressure in the pipeline system had been 12 times greater than it was intended to hold.

[midnight rambler]

There's always the possibility in such an instance that hacking was involved.

[Cebu_4_2]

There's always the possibility in such an instance that hacking was involved.

The old piping supposedly didn't have sensors. Someone in the control room could have boosted tho... Yes.

[midnight rambler]

The old piping supposedly didn't have sensors.

Unlikely.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA

[Horn]

I imagine its tied into some network distribution that they were previously able to control.

Those systems would be redundant though, so its either sabotage or terror. Not maintenance.