Last week Friday I was late coming home from work because I stayed late to finish up some work on the computer. A few blocks away from my house is a four-way stop near a cemetery through which I pass twice a day, once on my way to work in the morning and again on my way home. It was dark and rainy as I approached that four-way stop on Friday evening, and I smelled natural gas. The smell was so strong that it was as if I had an open tank in the passenger seat. When I got home, I called the Consumers Energy 1-800 number for reporting gas leaks and downed power lines. The operator took down my name and phone number as well as the information about the location of the smell and said someone would be sent out within 60 minutes.
The next day Dad went to the bank in the morning and called home on his cell to report that the fire department had the entire area blocked off. On his way home he stopped and talked to one of the fire fighters who said that they had been there since 8-something in the morning. Apparently a six-inch line had blown on Friday, but Consumers Energy couldn't find the leak until Saturday morning when it was bubbling out of the ground. (I'm not sure why the leak could not be found on Friday evening. Yes, there is a filling station a quarter mile or so to the west where the smell gets put into the natural gas, but this smell was so strong I don't know how anyone could assume it was anything but a gas leak. Perhaps the technician didn't feel much like working after 8pm on a Friday night...) By the evening when I went to the supermarket the area was open to traffic again, although Consumers Energy workers were still there with digging equipment.
Today is Wednesday and there's still a partially-filled hole marked off with orange cones in the front yard of someone's house.
All this makes me think about the difference one person or one action can make. If I hadn't called Consumers Energy on Friday night... If the technician had been able to find the leak the first time... If the leak had been worse and someone got hurt or died... (If the leak had been worse on Friday night and my car's engine had ignited the gas as I drove past...!) On the TV show Fringe, the main characters live in one reality and have physically identical counterparts in an alternate universe that is like ours in some ways and drastically different in others. Some of those drastic differences were caused by a single action: After the death of his own son Peter, Dr. Bishop traveled to the alternate world to save the life of his alternate self's son. To save that boy's life, Dr. Bishop brought him to our world and was subsequently unable to take him back. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to travel to an alternate reality like in that TV show, or to be like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, and be able to see what the world would be like but for lack of one person
Article from the local CBS affiliate:
Roads are re-opened and families are back in their homes after a pipe started leaking gas in [name of county]. The gas leak was reported to 9-1-1 dispatchers around 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The area between [street names] was blocked by the Fire Department and two homes were evacuated until around 2:00 p.m. because of the gas leak. Consumer Energy Spokesperson Chris Thelen says the gas was leaking from a two inch steel gas pipe which is part of a distribution line. Crews had to shut down the gas service to the evacuated homes before they could start repairing the line. Consumer's Energy expects to have the line repaired sometime Saturday evening.
From the local NBC affiliate, updated Sunday:
A gas leak that closed a road and caused the evacuation of some county residents was repaired. Fire crews told us they received calls around 8:40 a.m. Saturday on the strong odor of gas in the area. Crews determined there was a gas leak. Officials asked the residents of two homes to evacuate. They were able to return to their homes by mid-afternoon. Fire crews from three area townships worked with Consumers Energy crews to fix the problem.
And from the local FOX affiliate:
Surrounding residences were evacuated as Consumers Energy repaired a gas leak in the western part of the county on Saturday.
The first call reporting a smell of natural gas just west of the city came in to the Fire Department at 8:40 a.m. Saturday. While Consumers Energy attempted to find the source of the leak, firefighters asked residents in the general vicinity of the leak to leave their homes.
The leak was eventually located in a 6-inch high-pressure pipe. The Fire Department told us that it would take crews the rest of Saturday afternoon to repair the leak. However, the leak was repaired, residents returned to their homes and the roadway was re-opened by mid-afternoon Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment