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Multiple gas explosions and fires in Massachusetts

201 points by tlb 8y ago

tlb 8y ago
We don't know if the cause is hacking, but it's likely that gas main pressure is controlled by a computer. It'd be shocking if a software failure could cause dozens of fires.
- digikata 8y ago
  I'd speculate that the simplest root cause might be an system overpressure. Any hookup to a valve that couldn't contain a pressure of some level could be susceptible to leaking gas onto an ignition source which could then start a fire.
  - tlb 8y ago
    It's surely overpressure, beyond what the regulators at each house can hold back. The question is why, and whether such a thing could be caused by hacking a SCADA system. A gas explosion (claimed to be among the biggest non-nuclear explosions) was caused by the CIA hacking a soviet pipeline: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1455559/CIA-plot-led-to-huge-blast-in-Siberian-gas-pipeline.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/...
    - jordache 8y ago
      SCADA does not imply the ability to remotely move mechanical parts to result in a negative condition in the pipeline system.
    - newnewpdro 8y ago
      I didn't know the CIA did that, thanks for sharing. No idea what caused today's explosion, but the USA is clearly not without enemies and vulnerabilities in its own infrastructure.
    - IAmGraydon 8y ago
      It’s peculiar to me that you have repeatedly attempted to create a rumor that it was hackers even though there is no evidence to support that. Are you playing at something or just enjoy spreading misinformation?
      - VLM 8y ago
        What seems strange is IF someone had root on a enemy nation's natgas distribution plant, a short spike resulting in a handful of explosions is the third least effective attack I can think of (the least being doing nothing, second least effective being some kind of blackmail attempt). Performing almost any other conscious action would be more destructive to life and property and economy. Therefore unless its literally accidental (like the SQL slammer attack decades ago causing DOS via flooding) there almost certainly can not be hacking / terror involvement. Yet its also too destructive and attention seeking to be a plausible threat or sending a message; if outsiders messed with the SCADA to do this, fifteen minutes later all the passwords would be changed and sites physically locked down, such that a threat to do something more destructive next time (or else..) such as flicking the gas supply off for a couple minutes would be a non-starter. You have to look at it militarily like a stealth attack; giving away your position is not a wise first move if your whole strategy is stealth. You get one shot and this would be an intentional miss, so ... This would also imply its not an inside job; an insider would know that in my state (admittedly not MA, thankfully) an interruption in pressure requires an attempt at physical access by a rep with a leak sensor to verify pilot light and pilot light safety interlock for EVERY point of use and/or door tag notification warnings. Its happened to me a couple of times for some street work replacing pipes and replacement of my old meter. Its kind of an expensive labor job, a wealth transfer from the company to the union. The fact this didn't happen kind of exonerates the union. So rule out outsiders and insiders. A nutjob would probably drive a truck into an above ground facility, or frankly, just drive into people, so its probably not a nut. Not many options left. Space aliens did it accidentally? Maybe they closed down that solar observatory in NM because the space aliens are coming to mess with our delicious natgas.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  You'd hope that there'd be mechanical, non-hackable safeguards in place to prevent obvious over-pressure situations. Why would any part of the system allow a serious over-pressure that would result in catastrophe like this?
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    There are, but one of their safety mechanism is that excess pressure will lead to venting and that in turn can lead to fire if it happens enough. A tiny bit of venting is harmless but a lot of it over a short period of time can cause dangerous concentrations of gas mixed in with regular air, and that is a very nicely combustible mix.
- Alex3917 8y ago
  If it was Russia trying to send a message, you'd think they'd have done it on an election day. Still though this is pretty crazy, especially given that most buildings in NYC have a gas hookup.
  - antt 8y ago
    Do you: 1). Blame 50 years of infrastructure neglect to the point that the US is ranked a D+ [0] in infrastructure. 2). Blame a country with the population of Nigeria, the GDP of Italy and the military spending of Suadi Arabia? [0] https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/
    - Alex3917 8y ago
      Could go either way. U.S. infrastructure is terrible and getting worse, which is why the country is collapsing. but (IIRC) natural gas hookups aren't one of the issues that that report emphasizes. If one building exploded due to a leak then clearly that points to decaying infrastructure, but if dozens of houses explode due to overpressure then that seems more ambiguous.
      - antt 8y ago
        >Could go either way. No it couldn't. That you and some number of other people think it can signals a truly disturbing disconnect from reality on par with global warming denial. Nuclear powers do not interfere with each others civilian infrastructure.
        fribbles 8y ago
        > Nuclear powers do not interfere with each others civilian infrastructure. You have to be kidding. Tell that to that doctor currently in prison in Pakistan for helping the US run a completely fraudulent public health vaccination program. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakil_Afridi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakil_Afridi There is also the US blowing up that USSR gas pipeline that tlb linked to - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1455559/CIA-plot-led-to-huge-blast-in-Siberian-gas-pipeline.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/... Then there is the recent reports of Russian infrastructure hacks on a whole range of US industries - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-16/russian-hackers-penetrated-u-s-aviation-sector-early-last-year https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-16/russian-h... And then of course, there is the ultimate infrastructure hack - https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump Though that is probably just tit-for-tat, after the US assistance in the career of Boris Yeltsin.
- nrmitchi 8y ago
  I'm curious why you seem to be speculating/implying that this was a deliberate "attack"/act of terrorism, when the linked article doesn't mention anything of the sort. Your comment seems to be implying that there is some sort of evidence of hacking here, which, unless I'm missing something, does not seem to be the case.
- karlkatzke 8y ago
  LOL SCADA? You haven’t been involved with infrastructure in MASS have you? Let’s put it this way: it wouldn’t surprise me, especially in Lawrence, if some of the gas mains were still made out of wood. Before you scoff, NYC replaced the last wood gas main that they knew of 25 years ago, but they still occasionally find wooden pipe in their systems. The best way I’ve heard the gas infrastructure described is “antiquated ... if it was aged, it could be updated and replaced, but it’s so antiquated all that can be done is patchwork because there’s no time to do anything but.”
  - yread 8y ago
    the last woooden pipe in Philadelphia: https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep/17/bill-maher/bill-maher-says-some-natural-gas-pipes-are-made-wo/ https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep...
- userbinator 8y ago
  No, it's probably controlled by good-old-fashioned mechanical regulators... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_regulator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_regulator ...and the cause may be as simple as the regulator valve sticking open for some reason.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    The main reason why that usually happens is if the pressure is extremely constant for a long time, this can cause the valves to seize up and not function properly when they are needed.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  > We don't know if the cause is hacking Unlikely. > but it's likely that gas main pressure is controlled by a computer. But the failsafes are not. Overpressure is something the system is designed to handle, and those gas substations that you see every now and then in fields are the places where the overpressure regulation devices are located, and they are purely mechanical. > It'd be shocking if a software failure could cause dozens of fires. It would be, but this isn't that. The actuators on these systems are made with the express purpose that line fluctuations will always be slow enough to catch up with. But if a regulator fails in a bad way that might cause a prolonged overpressure with the initial change arriving as a spike, which may expose further weaknesses downstream. So the signature of an upstream regulator failure (a big one, and a sudden one too), is fairly consistent with what you are seeing here. The software actuators would not cause a pressure rise fast enough for that initial spike and the limit settings on those actuators (which are mechanical) would not allow those actuators to move beyond certain minimum and maximum set points for each line that they service. The people that designed these systems were anything but stupid and it is failsafes layered on more failsafes, the big killer for systems like this is a very simple one: back maintenance.
vondur 8y ago
From what I understand, some repair work was being performed. Apparently the gas infrastructure there is some of the oldest in the nation.
- GW150914 8y ago
  I used to live in Andover, MA in a prior existence, and while the town is very rich it is also as they say, very historic. I wouldn’t be shocked if the infrastructure was ancient. As for Lawrence (disclaimer: it may have changed) it was a seriously poor former mill town, and I wouldn’t be shocked if their infrastructure and services were in awful shape.
- mc32 8y ago
  Not knowing any better, I could only guess something similar to the San Bruno gas explosions a couple of years ago which were caused by aging and poorly maintained mains gas pipes. Can only hope the damage is contained quick.
curuinor 8y ago
Hasn't there been a lockout of employees for a while, and folks were getting replaced by scabs?
- p_rude 8y ago
  All I can find is lockouts of National Grid workers and replacing them with scabs. They news is reporting that these are Columbia Gas lines.
- pugworthy 8y ago
  This is just FUD and conjecture - this isn't reddit, it's ycombinator.
- cure 8y ago
  Different company. You're talking about National Grid, this is Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.
kbos87 8y ago
I don’t know about the rest of the nation but the natural gas infrastructure in Massachusetts is comically terrible. It isn’t unusual to be walking down the street in Boston (note: a separate utility than tonight’s incident) and to walk into a cloud of natural gas. I had such a cloud on my residential street for years that was strong enough to burn your eyes. National Grid would come by every few months, stick a probe in the ground, and declare it not worth fixing despite our repeated calls. I wonder how much of their product actually makes it from production facilities to end households without leaking out along the way.
- jghn 8y ago
  We regularly have the fire department roll up in front of my house to investigate a reported gas leak. One time it scared the crap out of me as I went to let the dog out and there were men on my deck. As it turns out they were from the FD and checking out my grill At some point I saw a map of all of those mini-leaks which are known and not worth fixing and sure enough one is right in front of my house
- devb 8y ago
  I don't call the gas company, I call the fire department. They tend to take paper trails a lot more seriously.
- userbinator 8y ago
  I had such a cloud on my residential street for years that was strong enough to burn your eyes. That is the odourant, which fortunately alerts you of its presence and concentration. Pure methane is odourless. National Grid would come by every few months, stick a probe in the ground, and declare it not worth fixing despite our repeated calls. To me that just sounds like a huge WTF!?!? If it was lit, would they just come and extinguish it and then leave? Regardless, I'd consider it a massive hazard to have clouds of flammable gas just lingering everywhere.
  - lovich 8y ago
    There's a 30 year old gas leak here. I've heard there's a group that celebrates it's birthday every year. The op was not exaggerating when he said it was comically terrible. Im surprised no politician has pushed to get it fixed since climate change is something people care about in the area and methane is much worse for global warming than carbon dioxide
acomjean 8y ago
This happened in Lexington Massachusetts a few years back. It was over pressurization of the gas system as suspected. Any little leaks get magnified. https://dailycollegian.com/2005/11/explosion-destroys-lexington-home/ https://dailycollegian.com/2005/11/explosion-destroys-lexing... https://www.firehouse.com/photo-story/article/10550631/gas-explosion-fire-level-lexington-massachusetts-home https://www.firehouse.com/photo-story/article/10550631/gas-e...
- jws 8y ago
  We forgot how insane it is to pump explosive gas into our houses beacause we’ve gotten so good at it. I was remembering a similar accident near me, and it turned out to be 1982. That’s a lot of unremarkable years in between. (1982) A state of emergency was in effect today after 28 homes and businesses burst into flames within seconds when the pressure in a natural gas line was kicked up accidentally, causing water heaters and furnaces to spit fire like "blowtorches." http://www.gendisasters.com/missouri/18442/centralia-mo-natural-gas-line-explosions-jan-1982 http://www.gendisasters.com/missouri/18442/centralia-mo-natu...
  - kibwen 8y ago
    As much as I love my gas stove, part of me can't help but think that we mostly won't be running gas lines into new houses within a few decades. Both gas and electricity can kill you, but a closed pressurized system of flammable gas is just harder (and more expensive) to engineer, install, and maintain than a wire run. But now I'm curious as to what sort of huge increase in power generation capacity it would theoretically take to cover for what gas heating currently provides...
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      Natural gas stoves used to give me the willies. Then one day the big bottom square heating element in my electric stove started making a weird noise. I opened the oven and looked at it for a minute and the thing exploded! In a million years I wouldn’t have thought it was possible. Fortunately I didn’t get hit by any shrapnel. And I got a new oven out of it, which was nice. But now I’m afraid of both cooking methods.
ilamont 8y ago
This is playing nonstop on all local news channels in the Boston area, and the footage is terrifying. One house just blew up, and then residents across a wide area said they heard hissing in their home and fires broke out in 70 of them. A news helicopter circled one of them for 40 minutes before firefighters could reach it, there were just too many other fires and not enough local resources. One of the towns (Andover or North Andover) had 38 fires in all, including 18 burning at one time. They have a good "mutual aid" system here and fire apparatus from the neighboring communities including New Hampshire and all over the Boston area eventually flooded in to these three cities (Lawrence, Andover, North Andover) to help. Someone mentioned there have been incidents like this before in Lexington, Mass. The news also mentioned another incident in Danvers more than 10 years ago but that wasn't natural gas, it was improperly stored chemicals: http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/local/danvers_explosion/ http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/local/danvers_explos... ETA: An 18 year old died - he was sitting in a car in a driveway next to the house that exploded, and a chimney fell on the vehicle.
- freerobby 8y ago
  Andover resident here. The local response has been super impressive. I've never seen so many emergency response vehicles and personnel mobilized so quickly from so many different places. We drove north to New Hampshire on instinct as soon as we had a sense of what was happening (about an hour before the formal evacuation), and saw police and firetrucks heading south the entire way. After dinner, on our way back south (not home, but to another place to stay tonight), all the highway exits in the affected areas were closed, with police at each exit offering guidance to drivers who weren't sure what to do or where to go. The affected communities are suburban -- not in the boonies, but not urban either, and definitely not used to having to respond so urgently to a widespread problem like this. They appear to have been very well trained and ready for it.
  - karmelapple 8y ago
    This is heartwarming to hear, and not surprising from my experience. Although people are great at minding their own matters in the greater Boston metro and beyond in non-crisis situations, when folks need help, this is a great place to get that help.
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
By close of business Friday the plumbing lobby will be saying this is because people did their own gas lines and requesting laws to drive them even more business. They'll probably get it too. By Monday everyone will have forgotten. Maybe there's be some hand wringing and an investigation. Not an extra cent will be allocated to fixing the infrastructure or processes that failed and led to this. That's how things work in this state, but hey, at least there's a few high paying jobs in Boston and we have progressive politics so we'll just keep patting ourselves on the back about how great it is to live here.
aphextron 8y ago
Do a google search for "columbia gas" before today. There's page after page of people being killed and injured in small scale explosions, and reporting severe leaks. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=953&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A8%2F22%2F2010%2Ccd_max%3A9%2F12%2F2018&tbm=nws&ei=YRubW53sG4zN8APeq5ewAw&q=%22columbia+gas%22&oq=%22columbia+gas%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l3.13549.15588.0.16005.2.2.0.0.0.0.74.141.2.2.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.2.141....0.4SiU4j8KSiI https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=953&tbs=cdr%3A1%2... Is this normal for other gas utilities?
- pmorici 8y ago
  They are subsidiary of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) a huge publicly traded utility. First time I've ever heard of something of this scale that I can remember. Gas explosions aren't unheard of but so many in a small area is perhaps unprecedented.
- blattimwind 8y ago
  > Is this normal for other gas utilities? I've never heard of "mini gas leaks" that are supposed to be fine until I've seen this thread. Every gas leak that's reported here must be fixed. Gas-related explosions still happen, I'd say it's 50:50 people messing with gas piping and people attempting suicide.
  - arctangos 8y ago
    I did a project on this some time ago. Columbia gas was one of the worst offenders for sheer volume of leaks. Not only is it normal to leave leaks unfixed, frequently they disappear from the public record without any recorded nearby fixes. It'd be interesting to see whether there's a correlation between explosion and leak location. Github: https://github.com/RogerTangos/LostLeaks/tree/master/data https://github.com/RogerTangos/LostLeaks/tree/master/data Overview (just for the Boston Area. I didn't do the analysis for Columbia gas.) http://lostleaks.csail.mit.edu http://lostleaks.csail.mit.edu I'm happy to lend a hand for the Columbia 2016-17, and 2017-18 data if others want to join in.
    - 8y ago
thsowers 8y ago
I saw it mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but it may be worth noting that there has been a lockout of National Grid workers since June 25th. These workers serviced "700,000 gas customers in 85 communities in eastern Massachusetts", NGrid has replaced them with contract workers to continue service[0]. A site representing the union states that those locked out "do the critical work of maintaining natural gas lines for homes, schools, and businesses across Massachusetts"[1] Unsure if this is related to the current incident & Columbia Gas edit: Press conferences seem to indicate that Columbia Gas is responsible for this region and not National Grid. Seems Unrelated [0]: http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2018/08/13/national-grid-lockout http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2018/08/13/national-grid-lock... [1]: https://www.usw.org/act/campaigns/lockout-at-national-grid/resources/facts-about-the-lockout-at-national-grid https://www.usw.org/act/campaigns/lockout-at-national-grid/r...
- mackey 8y ago
  I don't think its related.
- spchampion2 8y ago
  This wasn't National Grid's gas line. It belonged to Columbia Gas.
pugworthy 8y ago
Reading some of the FUD and conjecture I thought maybe I was on reddit for a second...
United857 8y ago
Not just Massachusetts -- a similar incident happened in the SF Bay Area a while back: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion The pipeline dated back to 1956. If you think about it: highly flammable/explosive substance transported under high pressure 24/7 in decades-old infrastructure -- it's amazing there hasn't been more accidents.
jorblumesea 8y ago
Infrastructure in the US is really old and very dangerous. 100+ years old and ready to fall apart. Sadly, not really surprised.
faag36 8y ago
We've missed you Kaczynski.
arachnophobe 8y ago
When i was growing up something similar happened in our town - over pressure caused by connecting a high pressure gas line to the local supply - police closed off the whole town and a few bits and pieces blew up/caught fire. http://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-and-villages/royston/great-gas-crisis http://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-... That was human error rather than failing infrastructure. My initial thought in this case, before hearing about the underinvestment by the utility company, was SCADA kit tampering/hacking. Running the pressure slightly high would be a very similar approach to the spinning of centrifuges at slightly over speed - not immediately detectable but with serious consequences. Judging by the comments on this thread it looks more like ineptitude/negligence by the utility.
peterwwillis 8y ago
From 2016: Methane Hazard Lurks in Boston's Aging, Leaking Gas Pipes, Study Says https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/boston-natural-gas-pipelines-leaking-methane-climate-change-explosion https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/boston-natural-g...
ainiriand 8y ago
The US really need to get their shit together with how the taxes are used. Dams, roads, bridges, pipelines, water cleansing... All that needs maintenance and it is not being done.
- theandrewbailey 8y ago
  Tell me about it. In 2007, there has been a bridge collapse[0] that was mostly caused by inadequate maintenance. Two others (more recently) were accidents[1][2]. And these weren't some little bridges in the middle of nowhere. They were heavily used interstates (sometimes crossing rivers). You can't miss them. I live in a city that has three major rivers in it, and more bridges than any other[3]. Things like these give me the willies. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge#2007_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-5_Skagit_River_Bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-5_Skagit_River_Bridge_collap... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh#Transportation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh#Transportation
- tallanvor 8y ago
  You're comparing apples to oranges. Gas lines, electric lines, and telecom infrastructure is usually privately owned (or through a limited public utility), so your taxes don't fund maintenance for them.
  - inetknght 8y ago
    It sounds like you're making an argument against private utility companies
- smacktoward 8y ago
  Look, it's not like all those countries are going to bomb themselves.
draxofavalon 8y ago
Is there any possibility that this was caused by hackers?
- haggy 8y ago
  That idea has been floating around a lot. It's definitely not outside the realm of possibility, though what makes me think is was human error is the fact that Columbia Gas (company responsible for those lines) publicly announced work on the lines about a week before this happened.
  - draxofavalon 8y ago
    I could also be that a week before the hack started. I know that my line of thinking is very "Mr Robot". Let's hope it's not a hack and it's just human error.
ccnafr 8y ago
It was the Russians!!!
- jessaustin 8y ago
  They're clever, to hack the utility with the worst safety record and crappiest infrastructure...
bitxbit 8y ago
Natural gas infrastructure in New England and MA in particular is horrible. A big part of the reason why prices remain high (3-4x vs New York) in the region despite the recent fracking boom. Incidents such as this do not help.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  As I recall the biggest thing was that the pipelines are insufficient and so in the winter it has to be shipped by sea.
bitL 8y ago
I am wondering if Watch_Dogs-style cellphone-controlled terror might become reality soon if hackers manage to control gas companies' pressure systems; they could truly cause devastating blows to arbitrary cities with very little defense against and limited tracking back to perpetrators.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  Stuxnet is the same idea. But really hackers are unnecessary when you have shoddy workmanship and lax regulation.
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    MA is not exactly the first state that comes to mind when one say "lax regulation." We share a border with a state that prides itself on not over-regulating things and their houses aren't blowing up. This is just the product of good, old fashioned incompetence and apathy from top to bottom.
    - emodendroket 8y ago
      I mean, Massachusetts is better than others. But that doesn't necessarily mean all the regulation is robust.
gwbas1c 8y ago
I hope this isn't an obvious question: Why aren't there safeties in the system to control these kinds of problems? For example, I have a giant gas meter outside my home. How come it can't turn the gas off when the line is over pressure? Massachusetts state law requires that the gas company change it every few years. (I'm a MA resident) My breaker box will turn off if there is a fault.
- tonyarkles 8y ago
  Couple of thoughts about gas and electricity and the similarities and differences: - an overpressure situation is specifically trying to blow through whatever "off" means (e.g. a ball valve or whatever the valves are). If the pressure rises too much, that valve is going to fail. That's true of circuit breakers too, but the "overvoltage fault voltage" of a circuit breaker is likely going to be way way way higher than anything you could reasonably expect from the grid, although lightning could probably flash over it. - Your breaker box will turn off during certain forms of fault, but not all. A line overvoltage probably wouldn't trip a breaker until the line voltage gets high enough to cause a fault in some piece of equipment connected downstream of the breaker (e.g. it blows up a switching power supply in your house and that fault current trips the breaker) - In the gas overpressure case, if all of the houses had gas meters that automatically turned off... the pressure in the community gas line would rise higher and higher. This is going to sound a bit cold, but it's likely better to have some houses blow up due to overpressure than to have a gas main explode after all of the houses have already shut off the gas. Bad situation all around :(. While acknowledging that I'm not a Mech E, my guess would be that the best solution would be to have periodically-placed blow-off valves on the gas main that could flare the gas if there were an overpressure situation. You don't really want to just release it, because then you've got a cloud of gas floating around that could get ignited by... whatever random ignition source.
  - maxsilver 8y ago
    This is probably a stupid idea, (I know absolutely nothing about natural gas) but why can't we emergency vent the gas outside? My gas meter is already outside the house, more than 30 feet away from anything flammable. In an emergency overpressure like this, shouldn't I be able to pull some sort of emergency lever to vent the gas outside. Yeah, that gas is flammable, which is risky. But that has to be less risky than just sitting around waiting for my house to blow up, which seems to be my only option today.
bbmd 8y ago
terrorism hacked gate system?
bbmd 8y ago
Terrorism? Hacked gate system Stuxnet virus?
joezydeco 8y ago
Something similar happened in Chicago in 1992. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/blowing-smoke/Content?oid=883188 https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/blowing-smoke/Content?...
fipple 8y ago
This is just bad infrastructure design. The gas line grid should have a safety vent that blows open in an abandoned field at some pressure between the operating pressure of the line and the maximum pressure the houses can handle.
osazuwa 8y ago
Security people, any chance at all this was caused by hacking some utilities SCADA somewhere? Tell me the Russians or the Chinese can't turn our houses into bombs...

201 points by tlb 8y ago

tlb 8y ago

We don't know if the cause is hacking, but it's likely that gas main pressure is controlled by a computer. It'd be shocking if a software failure could cause dozens of fires.

digikata 8y ago
I'd speculate that the simplest root cause might be an system overpressure. Any hookup to a valve that couldn't contain a pressure of some level could be susceptible to leaking gas onto an ignition source which could then start a fire.
- tlb 8y ago
  It's surely overpressure, beyond what the regulators at each house can hold back. The question is why, and whether such a thing could be caused by hacking a SCADA system. A gas explosion (claimed to be among the biggest non-nuclear explosions) was caused by the CIA hacking a soviet pipeline: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1455559/CIA-plot-led-to-huge-blast-in-Siberian-gas-pipeline.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/...
  - jordache 8y ago
    SCADA does not imply the ability to remotely move mechanical parts to result in a negative condition in the pipeline system.
  - newnewpdro 8y ago
    I didn't know the CIA did that, thanks for sharing. No idea what caused today's explosion, but the USA is clearly not without enemies and vulnerabilities in its own infrastructure.
  - IAmGraydon 8y ago
    It’s peculiar to me that you have repeatedly attempted to create a rumor that it was hackers even though there is no evidence to support that. Are you playing at something or just enjoy spreading misinformation?
    - VLM 8y ago
      What seems strange is IF someone had root on a enemy nation's natgas distribution plant, a short spike resulting in a handful of explosions is the third least effective attack I can think of (the least being doing nothing, second least effective being some kind of blackmail attempt). Performing almost any other conscious action would be more destructive to life and property and economy. Therefore unless its literally accidental (like the SQL slammer attack decades ago causing DOS via flooding) there almost certainly can not be hacking / terror involvement. Yet its also too destructive and attention seeking to be a plausible threat or sending a message; if outsiders messed with the SCADA to do this, fifteen minutes later all the passwords would be changed and sites physically locked down, such that a threat to do something more destructive next time (or else..) such as flicking the gas supply off for a couple minutes would be a non-starter. You have to look at it militarily like a stealth attack; giving away your position is not a wise first move if your whole strategy is stealth. You get one shot and this would be an intentional miss, so ... This would also imply its not an inside job; an insider would know that in my state (admittedly not MA, thankfully) an interruption in pressure requires an attempt at physical access by a rep with a leak sensor to verify pilot light and pilot light safety interlock for EVERY point of use and/or door tag notification warnings. Its happened to me a couple of times for some street work replacing pipes and replacement of my old meter. Its kind of an expensive labor job, a wealth transfer from the company to the union. The fact this didn't happen kind of exonerates the union. So rule out outsiders and insiders. A nutjob would probably drive a truck into an above ground facility, or frankly, just drive into people, so its probably not a nut. Not many options left. Space aliens did it accidentally? Maybe they closed down that solar observatory in NM because the space aliens are coming to mess with our delicious natgas.
CydeWeys 8y ago
You'd hope that there'd be mechanical, non-hackable safeguards in place to prevent obvious over-pressure situations. Why would any part of the system allow a serious over-pressure that would result in catastrophe like this?
- jacquesm 8y ago
  There are, but one of their safety mechanism is that excess pressure will lead to venting and that in turn can lead to fire if it happens enough. A tiny bit of venting is harmless but a lot of it over a short period of time can cause dangerous concentrations of gas mixed in with regular air, and that is a very nicely combustible mix.
Alex3917 8y ago
If it was Russia trying to send a message, you'd think they'd have done it on an election day. Still though this is pretty crazy, especially given that most buildings in NYC have a gas hookup.
- antt 8y ago
  Do you: 1). Blame 50 years of infrastructure neglect to the point that the US is ranked a D+ [0] in infrastructure. 2). Blame a country with the population of Nigeria, the GDP of Italy and the military spending of Suadi Arabia? [0] https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/
  - Alex3917 8y ago
    Could go either way. U.S. infrastructure is terrible and getting worse, which is why the country is collapsing. but (IIRC) natural gas hookups aren't one of the issues that that report emphasizes. If one building exploded due to a leak then clearly that points to decaying infrastructure, but if dozens of houses explode due to overpressure then that seems more ambiguous.
    - antt 8y ago
      >Could go either way. No it couldn't. That you and some number of other people think it can signals a truly disturbing disconnect from reality on par with global warming denial. Nuclear powers do not interfere with each others civilian infrastructure.
      - fribbles 8y ago
        > Nuclear powers do not interfere with each others civilian infrastructure. You have to be kidding. Tell that to that doctor currently in prison in Pakistan for helping the US run a completely fraudulent public health vaccination program. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakil_Afridi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakil_Afridi There is also the US blowing up that USSR gas pipeline that tlb linked to - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1455559/CIA-plot-led-to-huge-blast-in-Siberian-gas-pipeline.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/... Then there is the recent reports of Russian infrastructure hacks on a whole range of US industries - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-16/russian-hackers-penetrated-u-s-aviation-sector-early-last-year https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-16/russian-h... And then of course, there is the ultimate infrastructure hack - https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump Though that is probably just tit-for-tat, after the US assistance in the career of Boris Yeltsin.
nrmitchi 8y ago
I'm curious why you seem to be speculating/implying that this was a deliberate "attack"/act of terrorism, when the linked article doesn't mention anything of the sort. Your comment seems to be implying that there is some sort of evidence of hacking here, which, unless I'm missing something, does not seem to be the case.
karlkatzke 8y ago
LOL SCADA? You haven’t been involved with infrastructure in MASS have you? Let’s put it this way: it wouldn’t surprise me, especially in Lawrence, if some of the gas mains were still made out of wood. Before you scoff, NYC replaced the last wood gas main that they knew of 25 years ago, but they still occasionally find wooden pipe in their systems. The best way I’ve heard the gas infrastructure described is “antiquated ... if it was aged, it could be updated and replaced, but it’s so antiquated all that can be done is patchwork because there’s no time to do anything but.”
- yread 8y ago
  the last woooden pipe in Philadelphia: https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep/17/bill-maher/bill-maher-says-some-natural-gas-pipes-are-made-wo/ https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep...
userbinator 8y ago
No, it's probably controlled by good-old-fashioned mechanical regulators... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_regulator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_regulator ...and the cause may be as simple as the regulator valve sticking open for some reason.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  The main reason why that usually happens is if the pressure is extremely constant for a long time, this can cause the valves to seize up and not function properly when they are needed.
jacquesm 8y ago
> We don't know if the cause is hacking Unlikely. > but it's likely that gas main pressure is controlled by a computer. But the failsafes are not. Overpressure is something the system is designed to handle, and those gas substations that you see every now and then in fields are the places where the overpressure regulation devices are located, and they are purely mechanical. > It'd be shocking if a software failure could cause dozens of fires. It would be, but this isn't that. The actuators on these systems are made with the express purpose that line fluctuations will always be slow enough to catch up with. But if a regulator fails in a bad way that might cause a prolonged overpressure with the initial change arriving as a spike, which may expose further weaknesses downstream. So the signature of an upstream regulator failure (a big one, and a sudden one too), is fairly consistent with what you are seeing here. The software actuators would not cause a pressure rise fast enough for that initial spike and the limit settings on those actuators (which are mechanical) would not allow those actuators to move beyond certain minimum and maximum set points for each line that they service. The people that designed these systems were anything but stupid and it is failsafes layered on more failsafes, the big killer for systems like this is a very simple one: back maintenance.

vondur 8y ago

From what I understand, some repair work was being performed. Apparently the gas infrastructure there is some of the oldest in the nation.

GW150914 8y ago
I used to live in Andover, MA in a prior existence, and while the town is very rich it is also as they say, very historic. I wouldn’t be shocked if the infrastructure was ancient. As for Lawrence (disclaimer: it may have changed) it was a seriously poor former mill town, and I wouldn’t be shocked if their infrastructure and services were in awful shape.
mc32 8y ago
Not knowing any better, I could only guess something similar to the San Bruno gas explosions a couple of years ago which were caused by aging and poorly maintained mains gas pipes. Can only hope the damage is contained quick.

curuinor 8y ago

Hasn't there been a lockout of employees for a while, and folks were getting replaced by scabs?

p_rude 8y ago
All I can find is lockouts of National Grid workers and replacing them with scabs. They news is reporting that these are Columbia Gas lines.
pugworthy 8y ago
This is just FUD and conjecture - this isn't reddit, it's ycombinator.
cure 8y ago
Different company. You're talking about National Grid, this is Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.

kbos87 8y ago

I don’t know about the rest of the nation but the natural gas infrastructure in Massachusetts is comically terrible. It isn’t unusual to be walking down the street in Boston (note: a separate utility than tonight’s incident) and to walk into a cloud of natural gas. I had such a cloud on my residential street for years that was strong enough to burn your eyes. National Grid would come by every few months, stick a probe in the ground, and declare it not worth fixing despite our repeated calls. I wonder how much of their product actually makes it from production facilities to end households without leaking out along the way.

jghn 8y ago
We regularly have the fire department roll up in front of my house to investigate a reported gas leak. One time it scared the crap out of me as I went to let the dog out and there were men on my deck. As it turns out they were from the FD and checking out my grill At some point I saw a map of all of those mini-leaks which are known and not worth fixing and sure enough one is right in front of my house
devb 8y ago
I don't call the gas company, I call the fire department. They tend to take paper trails a lot more seriously.
userbinator 8y ago
I had such a cloud on my residential street for years that was strong enough to burn your eyes. That is the odourant, which fortunately alerts you of its presence and concentration. Pure methane is odourless. National Grid would come by every few months, stick a probe in the ground, and declare it not worth fixing despite our repeated calls. To me that just sounds like a huge WTF!?!? If it was lit, would they just come and extinguish it and then leave? Regardless, I'd consider it a massive hazard to have clouds of flammable gas just lingering everywhere.
- lovich 8y ago
  There's a 30 year old gas leak here. I've heard there's a group that celebrates it's birthday every year. The op was not exaggerating when he said it was comically terrible. Im surprised no politician has pushed to get it fixed since climate change is something people care about in the area and methane is much worse for global warming than carbon dioxide

acomjean 8y ago

This happened in Lexington Massachusetts a few years back. It was over pressurization of the gas system as suspected. Any little leaks get magnified. https://dailycollegian.com/2005/11/explosion-destroys-lexington-home/ https://dailycollegian.com/2005/11/explosion-destroys-lexing... https://www.firehouse.com/photo-story/article/10550631/gas-explosion-fire-level-lexington-massachusetts-home https://www.firehouse.com/photo-story/article/10550631/gas-e...

jws 8y ago
We forgot how insane it is to pump explosive gas into our houses beacause we’ve gotten so good at it. I was remembering a similar accident near me, and it turned out to be 1982. That’s a lot of unremarkable years in between. (1982) A state of emergency was in effect today after 28 homes and businesses burst into flames within seconds when the pressure in a natural gas line was kicked up accidentally, causing water heaters and furnaces to spit fire like "blowtorches." http://www.gendisasters.com/missouri/18442/centralia-mo-natural-gas-line-explosions-jan-1982 http://www.gendisasters.com/missouri/18442/centralia-mo-natu...
- kibwen 8y ago
  As much as I love my gas stove, part of me can't help but think that we mostly won't be running gas lines into new houses within a few decades. Both gas and electricity can kill you, but a closed pressurized system of flammable gas is just harder (and more expensive) to engineer, install, and maintain than a wire run. But now I'm curious as to what sort of huge increase in power generation capacity it would theoretically take to cover for what gas heating currently provides...
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    Natural gas stoves used to give me the willies. Then one day the big bottom square heating element in my electric stove started making a weird noise. I opened the oven and looked at it for a minute and the thing exploded! In a million years I wouldn’t have thought it was possible. Fortunately I didn’t get hit by any shrapnel. And I got a new oven out of it, which was nice. But now I’m afraid of both cooking methods.

ilamont 8y ago

This is playing nonstop on all local news channels in the Boston area, and the footage is terrifying. One house just blew up, and then residents across a wide area said they heard hissing in their home and fires broke out in 70 of them. A news helicopter circled one of them for 40 minutes before firefighters could reach it, there were just too many other fires and not enough local resources. One of the towns (Andover or North Andover) had 38 fires in all, including 18 burning at one time. They have a good "mutual aid" system here and fire apparatus from the neighboring communities including New Hampshire and all over the Boston area eventually flooded in to these three cities (Lawrence, Andover, North Andover) to help. Someone mentioned there have been incidents like this before in Lexington, Mass. The news also mentioned another incident in Danvers more than 10 years ago but that wasn't natural gas, it was improperly stored chemicals: http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/local/danvers_explosion/ http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/local/danvers_explos... ETA: An 18 year old died - he was sitting in a car in a driveway next to the house that exploded, and a chimney fell on the vehicle.

freerobby 8y ago
Andover resident here. The local response has been super impressive. I've never seen so many emergency response vehicles and personnel mobilized so quickly from so many different places. We drove north to New Hampshire on instinct as soon as we had a sense of what was happening (about an hour before the formal evacuation), and saw police and firetrucks heading south the entire way. After dinner, on our way back south (not home, but to another place to stay tonight), all the highway exits in the affected areas were closed, with police at each exit offering guidance to drivers who weren't sure what to do or where to go. The affected communities are suburban -- not in the boonies, but not urban either, and definitely not used to having to respond so urgently to a widespread problem like this. They appear to have been very well trained and ready for it.
- karmelapple 8y ago
  This is heartwarming to hear, and not surprising from my experience. Although people are great at minding their own matters in the greater Boston metro and beyond in non-crisis situations, when folks need help, this is a great place to get that help.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

By close of business Friday the plumbing lobby will be saying this is because people did their own gas lines and requesting laws to drive them even more business. They'll probably get it too. By Monday everyone will have forgotten. Maybe there's be some hand wringing and an investigation. Not an extra cent will be allocated to fixing the infrastructure or processes that failed and led to this. That's how things work in this state, but hey, at least there's a few high paying jobs in Boston and we have progressive politics so we'll just keep patting ourselves on the back about how great it is to live here.

aphextron 8y ago

Do a google search for "columbia gas" before today. There's page after page of people being killed and injured in small scale explosions, and reporting severe leaks. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=953&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A8%2F22%2F2010%2Ccd_max%3A9%2F12%2F2018&tbm=nws&ei=YRubW53sG4zN8APeq5ewAw&q=%22columbia+gas%22&oq=%22columbia+gas%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l3.13549.15588.0.16005.2.2.0.0.0.0.74.141.2.2.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.2.141....0.4SiU4j8KSiI https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=953&tbs=cdr%3A1%2... Is this normal for other gas utilities?

pmorici 8y ago
They are subsidiary of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) a huge publicly traded utility. First time I've ever heard of something of this scale that I can remember. Gas explosions aren't unheard of but so many in a small area is perhaps unprecedented.
blattimwind 8y ago
> Is this normal for other gas utilities? I've never heard of "mini gas leaks" that are supposed to be fine until I've seen this thread. Every gas leak that's reported here must be fixed. Gas-related explosions still happen, I'd say it's 50:50 people messing with gas piping and people attempting suicide.
- arctangos 8y ago
  I did a project on this some time ago. Columbia gas was one of the worst offenders for sheer volume of leaks. Not only is it normal to leave leaks unfixed, frequently they disappear from the public record without any recorded nearby fixes. It'd be interesting to see whether there's a correlation between explosion and leak location. Github: https://github.com/RogerTangos/LostLeaks/tree/master/data https://github.com/RogerTangos/LostLeaks/tree/master/data Overview (just for the Boston Area. I didn't do the analysis for Columbia gas.) http://lostleaks.csail.mit.edu http://lostleaks.csail.mit.edu I'm happy to lend a hand for the Columbia 2016-17, and 2017-18 data if others want to join in.
  - 8y ago

thsowers 8y ago

I saw it mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but it may be worth noting that there has been a lockout of National Grid workers since June 25th. These workers serviced "700,000 gas customers in 85 communities in eastern Massachusetts", NGrid has replaced them with contract workers to continue service[0]. A site representing the union states that those locked out "do the critical work of maintaining natural gas lines for homes, schools, and businesses across Massachusetts"[1] Unsure if this is related to the current incident & Columbia Gas edit: Press conferences seem to indicate that Columbia Gas is responsible for this region and not National Grid. Seems Unrelated [0]: http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2018/08/13/national-grid-lockout http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2018/08/13/national-grid-lock... [1]: https://www.usw.org/act/campaigns/lockout-at-national-grid/resources/facts-about-the-lockout-at-national-grid https://www.usw.org/act/campaigns/lockout-at-national-grid/r...

mackey 8y ago
I don't think its related.
spchampion2 8y ago
This wasn't National Grid's gas line. It belonged to Columbia Gas.

pugworthy 8y ago

Reading some of the FUD and conjecture I thought maybe I was on reddit for a second...

United857 8y ago

Not just Massachusetts -- a similar incident happened in the SF Bay Area a while back: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion The pipeline dated back to 1956. If you think about it: highly flammable/explosive substance transported under high pressure 24/7 in decades-old infrastructure -- it's amazing there hasn't been more accidents.

jorblumesea 8y ago

Infrastructure in the US is really old and very dangerous. 100+ years old and ready to fall apart. Sadly, not really surprised.

faag36 8y ago

We've missed you Kaczynski.

arachnophobe 8y ago

When i was growing up something similar happened in our town - over pressure caused by connecting a high pressure gas line to the local supply - police closed off the whole town and a few bits and pieces blew up/caught fire. http://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-and-villages/royston/great-gas-crisis http://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-... That was human error rather than failing infrastructure. My initial thought in this case, before hearing about the underinvestment by the utility company, was SCADA kit tampering/hacking. Running the pressure slightly high would be a very similar approach to the spinning of centrifuges at slightly over speed - not immediately detectable but with serious consequences. Judging by the comments on this thread it looks more like ineptitude/negligence by the utility.

peterwwillis 8y ago

From 2016: Methane Hazard Lurks in Boston's Aging, Leaking Gas Pipes, Study Says https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/boston-natural-gas-pipelines-leaking-methane-climate-change-explosion https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/boston-natural-g...

ainiriand 8y ago

The US really need to get their shit together with how the taxes are used. Dams, roads, bridges, pipelines, water cleansing... All that needs maintenance and it is not being done.

theandrewbailey 8y ago
Tell me about it. In 2007, there has been a bridge collapse[0] that was mostly caused by inadequate maintenance. Two others (more recently) were accidents[1][2]. And these weren't some little bridges in the middle of nowhere. They were heavily used interstates (sometimes crossing rivers). You can't miss them. I live in a city that has three major rivers in it, and more bridges than any other[3]. Things like these give me the willies. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge#2007_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-5_Skagit_River_Bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-5_Skagit_River_Bridge_collap... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh#Transportation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh#Transportation
tallanvor 8y ago
You're comparing apples to oranges. Gas lines, electric lines, and telecom infrastructure is usually privately owned (or through a limited public utility), so your taxes don't fund maintenance for them.
- inetknght 8y ago
  It sounds like you're making an argument against private utility companies
smacktoward 8y ago
Look, it's not like all those countries are going to bomb themselves.

draxofavalon 8y ago

Is there any possibility that this was caused by hackers?

haggy 8y ago
That idea has been floating around a lot. It's definitely not outside the realm of possibility, though what makes me think is was human error is the fact that Columbia Gas (company responsible for those lines) publicly announced work on the lines about a week before this happened.
- draxofavalon 8y ago
  I could also be that a week before the hack started. I know that my line of thinking is very "Mr Robot". Let's hope it's not a hack and it's just human error.

ccnafr 8y ago

It was the Russians!!!

jessaustin 8y ago
They're clever, to hack the utility with the worst safety record and crappiest infrastructure...

bitxbit 8y ago

Natural gas infrastructure in New England and MA in particular is horrible. A big part of the reason why prices remain high (3-4x vs New York) in the region despite the recent fracking boom. Incidents such as this do not help.

emodendroket 8y ago
As I recall the biggest thing was that the pipelines are insufficient and so in the winter it has to be shipped by sea.

bitL 8y ago

I am wondering if Watch_Dogs-style cellphone-controlled terror might become reality soon if hackers manage to control gas companies' pressure systems; they could truly cause devastating blows to arbitrary cities with very little defense against and limited tracking back to perpetrators.

emodendroket 8y ago
Stuxnet is the same idea. But really hackers are unnecessary when you have shoddy workmanship and lax regulation.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  MA is not exactly the first state that comes to mind when one say "lax regulation." We share a border with a state that prides itself on not over-regulating things and their houses aren't blowing up. This is just the product of good, old fashioned incompetence and apathy from top to bottom.
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    I mean, Massachusetts is better than others. But that doesn't necessarily mean all the regulation is robust.

gwbas1c 8y ago

I hope this isn't an obvious question: Why aren't there safeties in the system to control these kinds of problems? For example, I have a giant gas meter outside my home. How come it can't turn the gas off when the line is over pressure? Massachusetts state law requires that the gas company change it every few years. (I'm a MA resident) My breaker box will turn off if there is a fault.

tonyarkles 8y ago
Couple of thoughts about gas and electricity and the similarities and differences: - an overpressure situation is specifically trying to blow through whatever "off" means (e.g. a ball valve or whatever the valves are). If the pressure rises too much, that valve is going to fail. That's true of circuit breakers too, but the "overvoltage fault voltage" of a circuit breaker is likely going to be way way way higher than anything you could reasonably expect from the grid, although lightning could probably flash over it. - Your breaker box will turn off during certain forms of fault, but not all. A line overvoltage probably wouldn't trip a breaker until the line voltage gets high enough to cause a fault in some piece of equipment connected downstream of the breaker (e.g. it blows up a switching power supply in your house and that fault current trips the breaker) - In the gas overpressure case, if all of the houses had gas meters that automatically turned off... the pressure in the community gas line would rise higher and higher. This is going to sound a bit cold, but it's likely better to have some houses blow up due to overpressure than to have a gas main explode after all of the houses have already shut off the gas. Bad situation all around :(. While acknowledging that I'm not a Mech E, my guess would be that the best solution would be to have periodically-placed blow-off valves on the gas main that could flare the gas if there were an overpressure situation. You don't really want to just release it, because then you've got a cloud of gas floating around that could get ignited by... whatever random ignition source.
- maxsilver 8y ago
  This is probably a stupid idea, (I know absolutely nothing about natural gas) but why can't we emergency vent the gas outside? My gas meter is already outside the house, more than 30 feet away from anything flammable. In an emergency overpressure like this, shouldn't I be able to pull some sort of emergency lever to vent the gas outside. Yeah, that gas is flammable, which is risky. But that has to be less risky than just sitting around waiting for my house to blow up, which seems to be my only option today.

bbmd 8y ago

terrorism hacked gate system?

bbmd 8y ago

Terrorism? Hacked gate system Stuxnet virus?

joezydeco 8y ago

Something similar happened in Chicago in 1992. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/blowing-smoke/Content?oid=883188 https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/blowing-smoke/Content?...

fipple 8y ago

This is just bad infrastructure design. The gas line grid should have a safety vent that blows open in an abandoned field at some pressure between the operating pressure of the line and the maximum pressure the houses can handle.

osazuwa 8y ago

Security people, any chance at all this was caused by hacking some utilities SCADA somewhere? Tell me the Russians or the Chinese can't turn our houses into bombs...