Well this is exciting: UPDATE: Explosion today

03 June 2021, 10:08 PM

This is the town where I grew up and where my parents live. In fact, in the first photo in the news story, if the tent thing wasn’t there on the left you would probably be able to see their house in the distance. They haven’t been evacuated - only the apartments above the surrounding stores have - but they are saying it could take weeks or months to cap.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada...t-gas-leak-1.6051594

03 June 2021, 10:22 PM

BeeLady

I had a gas leak at my house a few years ago...scary but I did not have to evac, just have gas company folks tromp into the basement every two hours to check the levels for two days or so....

Hope all works out well and all are safe!

03 June 2021, 10:46 PM

Steve Miller

Yikes!

04 June 2021, 08:54 AM

markj

Did this get fixed yet?

04 June 2021, 09:58 AM

big al

Very strange. I am familiar with the hazards of hydrogen sulfide, having worked in industrial facilities, particularly coke ovens, where hydrogen sulfide was a byproduct, but had never heard of hydrogen sulfide wells. I wonder if they are natural gas wells with an unusually high secondary concentration of hydrogen sulfide. If that is the case, it might be fortunate because clean natural gas is oderless until an oderant is added to make leaks detectable by smell. A house a few miles from my home was destroyed by a natural gas explosion caused by gas introduced into the house with the well water.

Big Al

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Money seems to buy the most happiness when you give it away.

Why does everything have to be so complicated, all in the name of convenience. -ShiroKuro

A lifetime of experience will change a person. If it doesn't, then you're already dead inside. -MarkJ

04 June 2021, 02:35 PM

wtg

Yikes. Scary stuff.

Hope it gets taken care of soon.

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We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb

Bazootiehead-in-training

04 June 2021, 02:58 PM

ShiroKuro

quote:
They haven’t been evacuated - only the apartments above the surrounding stores have - but they are saying it could take weeks or months to cap.

I hope resolves quickly, completely, and without incident!!

04 June 2021, 07:50 PM

dolmansaxlil

quote:
Originally posted by big al:
Very strange. I am familiar with the hazards of hydrogen sulfide, having worked in industrial facilities, particularly coke ovens, where hydrogen sulfide was a byproduct, but had never heard of hydrogen sulfide wells. I wonder if they are natural gas wells with an unusually high secondary concentration of hydrogen sulfide. If that is the case, it might be fortunate because clean natural gas is oderless until an oderant is added to make leaks detectable by smell. A house a few miles from my home was destroyed by a natural gas explosion caused by gas introduced into the house with the well water.

Big Al

We have loads of oil and natural gas here so that could be. And because the building is 120 years old and oil wells were being drilled in the area before that, they aren’t 100% sure if it’s a natural well or a really old capped one. Emergency personnel are still in the area and it’s still all blocked off. Unfortunately it’s a town of 1,600 people and it’s at the “four corners” (the centre of the tiny business area) so most of the stores in town are impacted.

09 June 2021, 03:10 PM

dolmansaxlil

An update, kind of. The gas stopped leaking but they are still trying to figure out how to cap the wells. Apparently there are two of them and apparently this has happened before, in 1936. Here’s the resulting explosion:

09 June 2021, 03:28 PM

Steve Miller

09 June 2021, 04:58 PM

Nina

That's pretty creepy. Also makes me wonder why they would build on top of a well, natural or otherwise.

I hope they can figure out a way to cap it.

09 June 2021, 06:50 PM

dolmansaxlil

My understanding is pretty basic, but it was a natural gas well that powered streetlights and lights in the shops in the downtown. So it had to be close. The actual well heads are in a parking lot behind the existing buildings (which obviously went up after this explosion).

09 June 2021, 07:03 PM

CHAS

When I was a student I knew that when I saw a house on my left I knew to turn right to get home.
One day it was a flattened pile. I did a double take.
It made the news that evening. A gas leak caused an explosion.

09 June 2021, 07:20 PM

ShiroKuro

Wow, what a nightmare! I mean, since your parents were never evacuated, I assume it's safe, but still a nightmare! Hope it gets resolves quickly!!

13 June 2021, 08:23 PM

dolmansaxlil

Another update….

Apparently they capped the well after the 1930s explosion with tones of concrete. But they also left a vent so the gas wouldn’t build up (which is what causes the pressure/explosions to happen). Last year, a local restaurant that now owns the area where the vent was paved the parking lot, not knowing the 90 year old vent was there.

The hydro is still off on the block. Two fire trucks and teams of firefighters are there round the clock. Two homes and a bunch of apartments are still evacuated. The small hotel and four restaurants on the block are closed. Seven miles away, a private home is undergoing the same thing. They were evacuated two years ago, and still can’t return.