Oh, it will absolutely do that. Have you heard about the problem they are having with natural gas lines? Apparently there was some kind of flexible product that they were using about 10 years ago (when my house was built..happy day), that has been failing during lightning strikes...causing the gas to ignite!
It’s happened to more than several homes around here, and they recommend having it replaced; not so easy to do with a finished lower level.
Er, no, I didn’t know about that. There is one flex line on our water heater. Installed much less than ten years ago though.