Between seismic activity due to fracking and gas line leaks and explosions one might ask a state representative if this is a good combination.
11/23/2012 8:40 PM
By Derek Anderson and Melanie Dostis, GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS
SPRINGFIELD -- A natural gas explosion (click here) rocked downtown Springfield on Friday evening, injuring at least 18 people after leveling a downtown strip club in the city’s entertainment district, fire and hospital officials reported.
None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, according to spokeswomen at Baystate Medical Center and Mercy Medical Center in Springfield. Three of the injured were gas workers, two were firefighters, and at least one was a police officer, according to hospital officials and the New England Gas Workers Assocation, a nonprofit that promotes gas safety.
The explosion at 453 Worthington St., happened about 6 p.m., leveling the Scores Gentlemen’s Club, punching a large hole in the street, and blowing shards of glass and other debris through downtown streets. The Springfield Republican website reported that a nearby day care and five-story building were heavily damaged.
It was “just a mushroom cloud of an explosion -- big and orange,’’ said Victor Bruno, who owns Adolfos Italian Restaurant in the district. “It’s just a bad scene.”
Residents in Wilbraham and South Hadley felt the explosion, according to the Republican.
About 4:30 p.m., gas workers were reportedly finishing an investigation after receiving several calls about the smell of gas. Having evacuated the street during the investigation, workers were getting ready to let people back in when the explosion happened, according to Mark McDonald of the New England Gas Workers Association.
“It’s a good thing the people were still evacuated,’’ McDonald said. “If there were people in the building, it would have been a real catastrophe.”
The area is a bustling entertainment and residential area. It was quiet Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, although Bruno and other witnesses said it would have been crowded later in the night....
2012 November 20 23:28:22 UTC
Magnitude 3.6 - ILLINOIS (click here)
2012 November 20 23:28:22 UTC
Seismic Hazard Map (click here)
%g - (click here) When there is an earthquake, the forces caused by the shaking can be measured as a percentage of gravity, or percent g.
