Friday, September 8, 2000

Local news provided by: Metro Networks

Gas Plant Fire Dozens of firefighters fought a fire at an Exxon-Mobil gas plant in Pasadena on Wednesday afternoon and evening. It was reported to be a natural gas fire. There was no immediate word whether an explosion was involved in triggering the blaze. No injuries were reported.

HOUSTON

http://home.digitalcity.com/houston/news/article.dci?provider=metronetworks&category=News&article=577852

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 08, 2000

Answers

There have been just too many of these kinds of accidnts this year. This is one of the few areas, I feel, that is y2k-connected. These gas plants are truly high-pressure operations, the kinds where embedded chips would be a factor.

-- Wellesley (wellesley@freeport.net), September 08, 2000.

Is this the one?

Newsday

Pipeline Blast Kills Texas Officer

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- A cloud of natural gas burst into a fireball after a pipeline was ruptured, killing a police officer and injuring a woman living nearby.

A 12-inch propane pipeline owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. was believed to have been ruptured by a bulldozer Thursday afternoon, Sgt. Carol Taylor of the Taylor County Sheriff's Office said.

A sheriff's deputy apparently tried to flag down two vehicles before they reached the cloud of propane that spewed across State Highway 36, Taylor said. But one of the two vehicles ignited the cloud.

''Unless you have seen that before, you really don't know what you are driving into,'' Taylor said.

Jay Hatcher, 42, a criminal investigator for the Abilene Police Department, was caught up in the fireball as he drove home from work. He died early Friday at University Medical Center in Lubbock. The driver of the other vehicle, a semitrailer, managed to escape uninjured.

The blast also engulfed the home of Rita Franssen, who called authorities before the blast reporting that she smelled the gas. Franssen escaped from her home before it went up. She was listed in stable condition Friday morning at Abilene Regional Medical Center.

The ruptured pipeline continued to belch flames Friday morning.

The pipeline was sealed shortly after the blast, and authorities planned to let the remaining gas burn off, Taylor said. Authorities estimated gas could continue to seep from the pipeline for the remainder of the day.

AP-NY-09-08-00 0830EDT< 

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 08, 2000.