Ink in my veins!: Explosion lights up the night

Goodness, another gas line explosion! This is the closest one we've seen, but about the fourth or fifth we've had in the area since arriving here. I'm sure thankful that we don't live close to one of those lines, or at least I don't think we do.

Estimates put the flame on last night's explosion at about 400 feet into the air. You could actually see the flame from Harris Ferry Road and the entire horizon was orange. Dave and I almost saw the explosion. We were out on the back deck watching a little mini blizzard and heard the 'jet engine' noise that is associated with these explosions. Dave kept insisting it was just a jet flying low and it was louder due to the weather. So we headed back inside. We were frozen from watching the snow anyway.

About the time we got our coats off and settled in, the news flashed of an explosion. We looked outside and the entire skyline was orange. We instantly knew it was a gas line explosion. There have been too many of them recently. Scary stuff, knowing these gas lines go through our area. Thankfully they don't service any of the homes in the area, just piping it to some other east coast location.

Of course, being in the news industry for so long, we naturally wanted pictures. Maybe not a good idea, but the Dave person and I have been known to do some silly things. Once we got to the corner of Fox Road and Highway 89 we knew we shouldn't be there. Everyone else was there too. It just made for a mess and I apologize to the police for being in their way.

We took a quick picture and got out of there. As quick as the snowy roads would allow anyway. That surely didn't help, having snow covered roads. A few cars and trucks were going sideways trying to get up Fox Road, and I felt really bad that we were just contributing to the mess. Needless to say, Dad wasn't too happy we were there either .... as he called to see if we got pictures.

Thankfully, as of this morning, reports indicate there were no injuries and no damage to homes. I'm sure they'll be there all day trying to determine the cause. I'm guessing that the lines are just getting too old. For there to be so many of these, there is a problem somewhere. And thankfully no one has been injured, but that might not be the case next time. And I imagine there will be a 'next time' until they get something done about these aging lines. Just my opinion tho .....

Here are a couple of the pictures we got, it was quite spectacular. (You can tell it was still snowing in some of the pictures too).....