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3 killed, 39 homes destroyed in explosion of unknown origin in Evansville, Illinois

Wasn't there some kind of gas-service catastrophe that damaged a couple dozen homes like this in Boston a few years back?
 
Here in Northern California, there have been a few explosions over the years from old gas pipes.

It's a nice winter counter-balance to the wildfires started by power lines in the summer. PG&E likes to be consistent.

ETA: I see that's what theprestige was referencing above. To be fair, I believe one of the events I vaguely remember was SMUD(Sacramento Municipal Utilities District.) Still an example of aging infrastructure.
 
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The betting window is open. Long shot for natural gas/propane explosion, and giving odds on terrorist incendiary devices versus meth lab.
 
Yeah, I've seen similar, and they were all gas (not petrol) explosions.

The typical scenario is that a gas leak under a house persists for a period of time...

Then there is some change in conditions, a windy day for example, that causes the gas to mix with the air, and it achieves a fuel-air mixture.

Then a naked flame causes it to explode.

In South Australia, the reticulated gas is mixed with butyl mercaptan to make the odourless gas much easier to detect by human nose.

Sadly, cases turn up from time to time, where a home-owner has put up with the smell for months, without investigating the cause (or turning off the gas main).
 
Thermal said:
The betting window is open. Long shot for natural gas/propane explosion, and giving odds on terrorist incendiary devices versus meth lab.
Click to expand...

I think we're all thinking terrorist, but it's likely an accident. Meth lab would be a good guess where I live.
 
Have I missed a good reason to suspect a terrorist bombed the house of this random couple in..."Evansville, Indiana"?
 
You don't consider white supremacists terrorists? Rabid Trump supporters? They are not excluded from Indiana for whatever reasons you might think.

Split ticket for meth lab or bomb made worse by gas lines or tanks.
 
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novaphile said:
Yeah, I've seen similar, and they were all gas (not petrol) explosions.

The typical scenario is that a gas leak under a house persists for a period of time...

Then there is some change in conditions, a windy day for example, that causes the gas to mix with the air, and it achieves a fuel-air mixture.

Then a naked flame causes it to explode.

In South Australia, the reticulated gas is mixed with butyl mercaptan to make the odourless gas much easier to detect by human nose.

Sadly, cases turn up from time to time, where a home-owner has put up with the smell for months, without investigating the cause (or turning off the gas main).
Click to expand...

In the States, the pungent smell is also added. The gas provider has a hotline where they come a-runnin' if you report a gas smell.
 
//spitball//

The "source" house was empty/abandoned so a large amount of gas could build up without anyone noticing it?
 
JoeMorgue said:
//spitball//

The "source" house was empty/abandoned so a large amount of gas could build up without anyone noticing it?
Click to expand...

Abandoned houses almost always have utilities shut off, with no one paying the bill. Although we play a game on construction sites, theorizing how to make equipment catastrophicly malfunction in case we ever need to grease someone and not get caught. There are a surprising amount of ways to make gas-fired household appliances ignite themselves
 
Thermal said:
You don't consider white supremacists terrorists? Rabid Trump supporters? They are not excluded from Indiana for whatever reasons you might think.
Click to expand...

Is there a positive reason to think this couple would've been targeted by any such people?
 
Checkmite said:
Is there a positive reason to think this couple would've been targeted by any such people?
Click to expand...

I don't recall saying anything about being targeted by anyone. You feeling ok?

Houses don't generally explode. The safety features tend to be very prohibitive of exploding. You might notice that it is fairly rare. Even a household forced hot air furnace has redundant "proves" that must test positive before it will ignite, and shuts down if they don't prove.

People with homemade explosive chemicals are not nearly so safety minded. When a house explodes, I go to outside source of ignition compounded with user error, not a wonky hot water heater. Logical sources of explosions are people making bombs or the chemicals involved in meth cooking.
 
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