It's a Gas!
Dec. 13th, 2017 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeOur radio scanner has both the local railroad and the local emergency-services dispatching frequencies, so we hear not only the railroads, but also fire calls for northern and central Lyon County. Most "fire" calls are actually medical calls ("difficulty breathing", "fallen and can't get up" and the like) or miscellaneous assistance ("stuck in bathtub" was one I heard this week). There are of course fire alarms (many are false alarms), and real fires (fortunately not too many of them) and vehicle accidents (too many of these). Today, however, as I write this, I'm listening to a developing incident in the Farm District Road area of Fernley. (This is where the city has sprawled, and I think most of the population of the city is out that direction along what was once US-40.)
According to what I hear on the radio, there is a major gas leak in the Farm District Road area. (One of the people commenting on the Facebook post I made said that construction workers hit a 2-inch gas line.) Homes in the area are being evacuated. People outside of the immediate evacuation area report a strong smell of gas. Besides the fire department, law enforcement and the local gas utility are on the scene. A local command post has been established.
The affected area is roughly 9 km from my house. That's as close as I want to be, too. I'm content to listen on the radio to hear what's happening. (Although I don't know their "tactical" frequency, only the dispatcher line, so I'm not hearing the full story. I do hear that this has pulled enough of the local fire department's resources that they've asked for mutual support from adjoining Washoe county to help cover any additional calls that hit the city while this is happening.
This does show how thinly stretched our fire department is, in no small part due to the reluctance of local voters to approve additional taxes for funding the department.
Update: About 17:00 local time, the command post announced that the scene was secure, the gas leak was capped, emergency services had been released, and they were terminating the command post. That was roughly 90 minutes after the post had been established, so good for everyone involved in getting the leak under control relatively quickly and without a fire.
According to what I hear on the radio, there is a major gas leak in the Farm District Road area. (One of the people commenting on the Facebook post I made said that construction workers hit a 2-inch gas line.) Homes in the area are being evacuated. People outside of the immediate evacuation area report a strong smell of gas. Besides the fire department, law enforcement and the local gas utility are on the scene. A local command post has been established.
The affected area is roughly 9 km from my house. That's as close as I want to be, too. I'm content to listen on the radio to hear what's happening. (Although I don't know their "tactical" frequency, only the dispatcher line, so I'm not hearing the full story. I do hear that this has pulled enough of the local fire department's resources that they've asked for mutual support from adjoining Washoe county to help cover any additional calls that hit the city while this is happening.
This does show how thinly stretched our fire department is, in no small part due to the reluctance of local voters to approve additional taxes for funding the department.
Update: About 17:00 local time, the command post announced that the scene was secure, the gas leak was capped, emergency services had been released, and they were terminating the command post. That was roughly 90 minutes after the post had been established, so good for everyone involved in getting the leak under control relatively quickly and without a fire.
