Nov. 10 natural gas explosion causes fear among Carmel homeowners

December 14, 2012

In light of the explosion in Indianapolis on Nov. 10, many homeowners fear that such an explosion could happen to them as well.

Junior Jonas Wang experienced a similar situation a month ago.

“While there was not a gas leak inside my house, police officers did determine that there was a gas leak somewhere in the surrounding area and they were able to isolate the area to be somewhere around the pond that is about 100 feet away from my house,” Wang said via email. “After determining the source of the problem, the police officers set up a perimeter while the technicians got to work repairing the gas leak.”

However, Wang said he was not affected much by the incident. “I was not so much scared as I was surprised, for it was at around 10 pm that this incident occurred, and my parents were already getting ready to go to bed. No one usually expects company at this hour, so when the police came, most of my family were on auto-pilot and just trying to finish up the day’s work before going to bed,” Wang said.

School resource officer Phil Hobson said there are preventive measures that can be taken. “One way to prevent issues is to have regular inspections and service done to gas furnaces to ensure that they are in proper working order and that there are no leaks,” Hobson said via email.

According to Wang, when the officers came to his house, “the officers stated that we should be wary of any smell that has an “electric” feel to it as such a smell is added to the usually odorless natural gas in order to allow people to identify it in the air.”

Even so, major gas leaks and explosions are scarce. “Natural gas leaks should not be common as they are delivered to homes using reinforced metal piping. Additionally, natural gas is usually moved from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure and so if a gas leak did occur, it usually would not occur at the end of its journey,” Wang said.

Hobson agrees. “In my experience, large gas leaks are uncommon and when they do occur, they are widely reported and quickly repaired,” he said.

However, if a person does smell a leak, certain safety measures can be taken. “If you do smell a gas leak, leave the residence and contact 911 so the fire department and gas companies can investigate and ensure everyone’s safety,” Hobson said.

Although the explosion is now being investigated as a homicide, Wang said, “The threat (gas leak) is still possible, and so people should still watch out for indicators of a natural gas leak, though perhaps not as much as they have been while believing the explosion cause was a gas leak.”

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Nov. 10 natural gas explosion causes fear among Carmel homeowners

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