Copied from WCCO - *

The head of Minnesota's Office of Pipeline Safety is calling Monday's explosion and fire at a house in St Paul a "wake-up call." Elizabeth Skalnek says, during the 1990s, some sewer lines and gas lines were relocated - and sometimes intersected - causing a potentially dangerous situation, particularly when plumbers tried to clean out sewers. Skalnek says there have been five other similar cases since the 1990s. In Monday's explosion and fire, homeowner Trista Meehan and her plumber escaped the house prior to the fire, with the plumber suffering minor facial burns. She says homeowners with questions about their sewer lines and gas mains should contact their utility. (In St Paul that would be Xcel Energy).
So they punched through the existing sewer laterals and ran the gas pipes through them. Plumber tries to clear the clog and breaks the gas pipe. Isn't that just great.

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