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Accidents Caused by Gas Pipeline Explosions

Natural gas is one of the most commonly used fuels today. It's used to heat homes and water, to cook, to create electricity, and in some parts of the world to power vehicles. However, natural gas must be fed through pipelines, and this can often lead to accidents where the lines explode. Depending on the size of the explosion and where it occurs, there could be more than the initial accident poses a threat.

  1. Natural Gas

    • Natural gas is defined as a hydrocarbon gas that's obtained from underground and undersea porous rocks. Natural gas is usually found mixed with crude oil. Natural gas is composed mostly of methane, with propane and ethane making up most of the majority of the remainder of the gas. These components make natural gas extremely flammable.

    Traffic Accidents

    • In many cases, gas pipelines run under or along streets. If a gas pipeline explodes with enough force, it can cause damage to the road, possibly collapsing it into a hole. This can lead to traffic accidents as drivers attempt to react to the explosion, often crashing into other drivers and buildings.

    Injury and Destruction

    • Pipeline explosions may also take place closer to the source of the natural gas. When this happens there is the initial danger to the workers who might be injured by the explosion, but there is also a larger risk, namely that the source of the natural gas may be caught up in the reaction, causing a larger, secondary explosion.

    Fire

    • One of the biggest concerns any time a gas pipeline explodes is fire. Since natural gas is extremely flammable, the gas could easily spark when the pipe explodes. This can lead to wild fires in wooded areas where the pipe runs, or house and apartment fires if they begin in a more heavily populated area.

    Prevention

    • The easiest way to prevent these accidents is to prevent the explosion of gas pipelines. Regularly checking the pipelines, installing methane detectors to find leaks, and monitoring the pressure in the pipes are but a handful of measures that could easily stop this sort of harmful accident.

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