Our own little 9-11

15 years ago

About 8:15 this morning, my husband was at the shop making coffee. Suddenly there was a giant explosion. Stuff fell off the shelves everywhere and he ran outside along with everyone else. A large chunk of a city block of Main Street blew up from a gas explosion. The Rocking R bar burned along with several other places. Windows blew out everywhere, but luckily not ours. Debris rained down and there were reports of bricks falling down from the skies hours later.

The fires burned all day and everyone was ordered out. The odd coincidences between 9-11 and our event kept bothering me. We had a big snowstorm today, and the air was still, like 9-11. So lucky that was, snow dumping on that fire. There is only one person unaccounted for who was employed in those buildings, probably the luckless person who came to work first, and turned on a light switch, which ignited the gas.

All of these buildings dated back to 1900, and the gas lines were laid in the 30's.

They just spent a huge sum fixing up Main Street, and we're getting a highly unnecessary parking garage, but nobody thought of the gas lines.

The old man told me that was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to him. My son who lives clear across town, thought it was an earthquake.

There was supposed to be a street concert tonight right out in front of those buildings.

Like 9-11, it's going to take some time getting over this.

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Comments (9)

anntn6b
15 years ago
I'm so glad you and yours are safely through this. I hate what it's done to your home town. And to her people.
rosefolly
15 years ago
What a horrific story. I feel sorry for the person who was lost, but glad there were not more. Something like that puts a of of things in perspective, as we just how unimportant the unimportant stuff is.

I'm thankful that you and yours were not hurt.

Rosefolly
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kaylah
Original Author
15 years ago
Yeah, Ann, it's something to think about. Everybody thought it was a bomb. Nobody thinks about how old our infrastructure is getting, in some places.
I'm just thankful the little ballet kids weren't at the studio.
What is a ballet studio doing up above a bar?
You know , in my youth, the Rocking R was a really tough cowboy bar. If you went to that bar, you needed to take two dudes with you. One wasn't enough.
A few years ago, it was all remodeled into a yuppie joint. Stone tiles, lots of people with cell phones.
It is so weird our windows didn't blow. We are just behind them on the next street, but a little to the east. People lost their windows five blocks away.
melissa_thefarm
15 years ago
I'm glad you and your husband are alive and unhurt!! I'm VERY sorry there was a death, but glad there weren't more.

It adds a certain urgency to infrastructure renewal, doesn't it?

Melissa
mendocino_rose
15 years ago
This is shocking. I am so sorry. Thank goodness your husband got out.
zeffyrose
15 years ago
How horrible-----thank goodness you are safe----It could have been alot worse especially if all the little ballerinas were there.

Florence
kaylah
Original Author
15 years ago
Today, it is snowing and snowing. My husband went to work and had to attend meetings, etc, to get past the National Guard posted at the corner. I feel sorry for anyone posted outside in this weather. The firefighters who were up all night were taking naps on the fire truck right outside.
The gas pipes turned out to be from 1925, and have very few shut off valves, except where the side lines connect to buildings. They are made of steel and 8 inches wide.
I'll bet this system occurs all over America, part of New Deal economic stimulus. Everything's got it's vanishing point and 84 years is a long time.
It just keeps snowing, I stayed home and started cleaning house.
I need to pick three more roses for my rose garden. I was thinking of trying a couple David Austins, Eglantyne or a Shropshire Lad. But I wouldn't do it if I ended up having to chop the canes down every year and start over.
I want some nice tall roses. It seems like, for cold hardy roses, "think pink", but there's too much pink in there already.
melissa_thefarm
15 years ago
Time for a new New Deal. The economic front is just one big storm system right now.

How about roses deriving from the cold-hardy yellow species (R. foetida for example) and the species themselves? Or is your garden already full of them? Or is black spot a problem? Sorry if I'm stating the obvious; I don't know what you have growing now.

Melissa
gnabonnand
15 years ago
That's a terrible thing to happen to your town. Sorry to hear about it. Glad you're okay.
My house has gas heat & hot water heater. Even though our home is pretty new, it always bothers me when I hear about a gas explosion.

Randy

Our own little 9-11

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