Truckee, CA – Back in April of 2011 a home on Bales Road inexplicably exploded.
No one was home, and no one was outside to get injured or even killed by the impact.
Before this year, 2011 was the last heavy snow year, and investigators found at that time, a crack within a propane tank line at the residence caused the explosion.
When gas is under pressure, it wants to come out of the tanks where ever that problem might be. So with this amount of snow, on top of the piping we can have leaks, cracks in the pipes and gas will start coming out of the pipes and keep leaking and it is going to make its way to something either and ignition source or out to the street, says Paul Spencer, with Truckee Fire Protection District.
Earlier this month, another house explosion, this time at Kirkwood.
Investigators were again looking at propane fumes coming from a tank’s valves loosened by snow on top of the tank as a potential cause.
Before an explosion occurs, neighbors walking by a home may smell something.
Dispatch gets us out there, gas leak unknown. Come to the area and then we detect whether or not there is gas here and then we figure out where it is coming from at that point, says Spencer
But that is sometimes easier said than done.
Yellow markers identify where the propane tank is located on the property.
In many cases residents have cleared the top of the tank as advised.
But because many of these homes are seconds, homeowners aren’t here all the time, and tanks can get covered with snow–increasing the risk of gas leaks.
Spencer explains as he stands on a berm about 8 feet high with a broken yellow stick coming from the ground.
He looks up where the wall goes up another eight feet.
Believe it or not, he likes how the homeowner has marked the area.
It allows firefighters to know exactly where the tank is without having to dig the additional eight feet.
There is the potential right there. We would have to go from there and find this. And we wouldn’t know where the stake is being the top four feet is lying on the ground over there on the ground, says Spencer.
Spencer says one homeowner who lives here full time, has clearly marked the site of his propane tank, and kept the top clear all winter long.
This snow season has been unusual with the amount of snow that’s fallen.
For that reason, firefighters say they’ll continue to monitor the snow on top of tanks until probably mid-June.