‘Pipelines blow up and people die’

Oct 26, 2016 | Accidents, Health & Safety, Pipelines

A massive fire roars through a mostly residential neighborhood following a natural gas pipeline rupture that killed eight people and injured more than 60 on Sept. 9, 2010, in San Bruno, California.

A massive fire roars through a mostly residential neighborhood following a natural gas pipeline rupture that killed eight people and injured more than 60 on Sept. 9, 2010, in San Bruno, California.

On June 10, 1999, a few days after his high school graduation, Liam Wood unexpectedly got an afternoon off work and decided to go fly-fishing on a creek near his hometown of Bellingham, Washington. About 100 miles away, operators missed the signs of a pressure spike in the 16-inch gasoline pipeline that crossed the stream in Whatcom Falls Park.

The pipe ruptured at a point where, several years before, a backhoe had accidentally struck and weakened the 50-year-old iron. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline began to spew into the creek near where Liam stood, staining the water pink.

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