Explosion in Flint

mattmia2

I wonder if this could be anything other than some form of gas, either natural or some form of bottled lpg. There doesn't seem to be the usual "we smelled gas a block away" reports that usually accompany a natural gas explosion. there is a video though.:
https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2021/11/surveillance-video-captures-house-explosion-in-flint-neighborhood.html

EdTheHeaterMan

Is it possible that Jack Bower (played by Kiefer Sutherland) was driving by just as John McClane (Bruce Willis) flew in on a 747 while James Bond (Daniel Craig) was sipping a martini in Flint?

unclejohn

My money is on Jason Bourne

mattmia2

They still haven't released a cause of this yet. They have to know by now at least what the fuel was and approximately where it was by now don't they?

EdTheHeaterMan

https://buckfirelaw.com/blog/flint-home-explosion-lawyer-investigating-gas-lawsuit/

https://www.newskudo.com/michigan/flint/crime-safety/6098870-two-weeks-later-still-no-official-cause-of-hogarth-ave-explosion

https://banana1015.com/flint-house-explosion-consumers-energy-finds-no-issues-with-natural-gas-system/

We may never know

Steamhead

Maybe it was something in the water....................

mattmia2

EdTheHeaterMan said:

https://buckfirelaw.com/blog/flint-home-explosion-lawyer-investigating-gas-lawsuit/
https://www.newskudo.com/michigan/flint/crime-safety/6098870-two-weeks-later-still-no-official-cause-of-hogarth-ave-explosion

That does not sound technically accurate. At one point the confuse gasoline and methane. At another point they imply that a natural gas explosion has to be the fault of the utility which is the least likely cause...

PC7060

Steamhead said:

Maybe it was something in the water....................

Ouch! That hurts! 

mattmia2

that would very quickly delve in to the no politics.

Steamhead

mattmia2 said:

that would very quickly delve in to the no politics.

@mattmia2 , the water problems in Flint are well documented, as was the cause. The question here is, how did the explosion happen, and was it the gas utility's fault which would make them as bad as the water utility?

mattmia2

Steamhead said:

@mattmia2 , the water problems in Flint are well documented, as was the cause.

The cause of the cause is what gets very political very quickly.

the gas utility is a very different political situation than the water utility. The gas utility is a a private company that serves most of the state outside of large cities. It is possible that the utility's equipment failed. it is a lot more likely that equipment that was owned by the property owner failed or was tampered with. If it was rental property and customer side equipment i can see reasons the state might not want to say much. It also could have been some other accidental or intentional fuel.

Jamie Hall

Unhappily there will be at least three and maybe four sets of investigation on this one (probably). There will be lawyers and their kin looking for whom to sue and grounds, however, flimsy, to do it on. There will be politicians looking to find good campaign talking points. Both of those will go well and quickly. If it looks like there might have been a criminal component (I can think of possibilities) the law enforcement folks will be hard at work. Then, hopefully but not certainly since this does not appear, at least, to have a transportation component, there will a NTSB investigation which will seek to establish the chain of events -- without determining fault -- which led to the explosion. That last one may take a year or more -- the evidence seems to be rather scattered about -- but is the only one of any actual value. Be interesting to see what they have to say, though, to hopefully avoid having it happen again.

Dave Carpentier

If it was natural gas, how much gas would you need to "blow a house to smithereens" ? Gas rises, would the occupants not notice and leave the building before it hit LEL ? It would have to be a fairly high vol leak, no ?
Propane can collect in a basement without anyone noticing, and then go boom.

mattmia2

Still inconclusive somehow:
https://nbc25news.com/news/local/hogarth-ave-explosion-confirmed-as-natural-gas-leak-says-flint-fire-chief

You would think one could work out where the gas was leaking from. The actual source of ignition is less important.