Gas Explosion in Sissonville, West Virginia

Natural gas explosion that took place on interstate 77 at 1pm in Sissonville, West Virginia on December 11, 2012

In Sissonville, West Virginia Tuesday December 11, 2012 a natural gas line exploded in an hour-long blaze burning homes and roads. At least five homes went up in flames and a section of Interstate 77 was badly burned. This event would be categorized as a technological hazard. A technological hazard result in man-made accidents because the trigger event in human action, or inaction, when dealing with dangerous technologies; thus these hazards arise not simply from faults in technology alone but are linked to human fallibility in decision-making. At this point the company is still gathering facts to understand what took place to cause the explosion.

After the explosion a shelter/gathering area was set up at the Sissonville High School where several people were treated for smoke inhalation and a press conference was planned for later in the afternoon. Thankfully no one has been reported as seriously injured at this point.

Post-disaster mitigation took place as the interstate, which was ‘cooked’ by the explosion, was shut down while engineers and inspectors repaired the damaged and assess whether a bridge on the route was compromised.

This explosion could’ve been a lot worse if other factors/ features were at the wrong place at the wrong time, referring to the Swiss cheese model. For example the explosion took place less than a mile from a nursing home. If the blast had been closer, residents living at the home could’ve been badly injured or even killed. Other examples could be that there could’ve been a hazardous material site located near the explosion which could’ve acted like a chain reaction, one explosion leading to another. With more than one explosion there would’ve been more of a possibility of people being seriously injured or killed.

Article Source: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/dec/11/wva-gas-line-explodes-burns-homes-and-roads/

Image Source: http://wowk.images.worldnow.com/images/20317484_SS.jpg