Posted on 11/24/2012 4:14:09 PM PST by Morgana
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Preliminary investigations show more than 40 buildings were damaged in a natural gas explosion in Massachusetts that injured 18 people, building inspectors said Saturday.
A strip club was flattened and a day care center was heavily damaged in the massive explosion Friday night in Springfield, one of New England's biggest cities.
No one was killed in the explosion.
Investigators were trying Saturday to figure out what caused the blast that could be heard for miles, left a large hole in the ground where the multistory brick building housing Scores Gentleman's Club once stood and scattered debris over several blocks.
Officials already had evacuated part of the entertainment district after responding to a gas leak and odor reported about an hour before the explosion. Gas workers venting a gas leak got indications that the building was about to explode and they ducked for cover behind a utility truck — along with firefighters and police officers — just before the blast, said Mark McDonald, president of the New England Gas Workers Association.
Most of the injured were in that group, and the truck that saved their lives was essentially demolished, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
strip club and day care center probably one and the same these days...
too soon?
Methamphetamine laboratory?
I noticed that!!! In the same area? For pity’s sake!
They probably have their career track already in place
If this happened in Detroit, property values would increase
Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind.
I was thinking insurance claim.
LOL. I hear you. I can’t count the times a restaurant has burned down just a few months after being sold to a new owner who either tweaked, and ruined, the menu and the food, or just plain changed everything, losing the faithful clientele.
Must have been a bang up club! ;-)
The three older gentlemen just happened to end up at the same high-end condo/resort on the beach in Florida.
“Yeah - my strip-club was destroyed in a natural gas explosion, and I’m too old to try to rebuild so I figured I’d just retire down here where it’s warm. No more Mass. winters for me.”
“Well what do you know - my Deli/meat shop got broke into and they stole most everything. And what they couldn’t steal they vandalized so bad it just wasn’t worth it to try to open it back up.”
The third guy says “Wow - what a coincidence - my restaurant got completely destroyed during Superstorm Sandy so I too figure I might as well just quit.”
The two other guys look at him, and ask “How the H&%$ did you start that storm?”
Springfield is fairly trshy.
lol. I am sure this will help. heh
Nat Gas is great, but, IMHO, does not always get enough quality installation and maintenance.
IMHO, a lot of residential has NOT been installed well enough to survive climates where the ground freezes.
Since the retail distribution companies typically have little competition, however, the incentive to really do a good job is not there. The occasional explosion can just be chalked up to “nothing could be done about it”.
Too bad.
Officials already had evacuated part of the entertainment district after responding to a gas leak and odor reported about an hour before the explosion. Gas workers venting a gas leak got indications that the building was about to explode and they ducked for cover behind a utility truck — along with firefighters and police officers — just before the blast,
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