Wow - Propane Explosion In Maine

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peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Jul 11, 2008
8,771
Northern NH
The news reports from Farmington Maine are real scary. One firefighter killed and several more seriously injured. A maintenance worker smelled gas and got everybody out in time but the place went up when the fire department was approaching the building to look for a leak. No trace of the building except for the foundation and it took out too nearby mobile homes. One downside to propane is its heavier than air and can collect in low points so a slow leak can build up for hours until it hits the right fuel air ratio and ignition source. The building appears to have been insulated with cellulose so there is cellulose spread around the neighborhood.
 
Wow, that is scary. Stuff like this is why my wife doesn't trust gas anything.
 
Folks with boats use compressed natural gas as the vapors are lighter than air so they disperse instead of settling into the bilges like propane does. Either way propane or CNG explosions are scary. The maine oil heating dealers association used to run ads about the safety of heating oil after significant gas explosions but they got called out for bad taste by the public and changed their advertising.
 
Folks with boats use compressed natural gas as the vapors are lighter than air so they disperse instead of settling into the bilges like propane does. Either way propane or CNG explosions are scary. The maine oil heating dealers association used to run ads about the safety of heating oil after significant gas explosions but they got called out for bad taste by the public and changed their advertising.

That is a dirty move by the oil companies. I looked into CNG a while back, but there really isn't any infrastructure in Maine for it. A place I worked for briefly in NC used CNG fork trucks, but that's my only experience with it. When we lived in our RV for three years we heated, cooked, and heated water with propane from small (20-40 lb DOT cylinders) propane tanks and my wife hated it. Her mother is also terrified of compressed gasses, but they are also from New England, so this is making a lot more sense today.
 
RIP Capt.

His brother was the Chief. Couple of other guys injured.