Studebaker building explodes in NC

C Body Bob

Old Man with a Hat
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Youngsville, NC
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The old revitalized Studebaker building in Durham, NC was destroyed Tuesday April 9th from an explosion due to a gas leak. You can see in the before photo the old Studebaker sign on the building which now housed a Porsch collection & a coffee shop. Reports are that a contractor was boring a hole in the sidewalk & struck a gas line. A woman driving by said she saw the owner of the coffee shop putting a sign on the door that the business was closed for the day due to a gas leak. Seconds later the place exploded killing the shop owner & injuring 17 others. Several in critical condition. Durham, NC the home of the old Lucky Strike cigarettes & Durham Bulls baseball team has done an outstanding job of revitalizing it’s tobacco & downtown areas after its demise of the 80’s & fall of the tobacco industry. A true success story. Only 20 miles from me. It’s big news around here for the ball park, restaurants & the Performing Arts Center.
 
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That's an absolute shame. It looks like it was a beautiful building, recently restored too. One person died, seventeen injured! And, from the sounds of it, completely avoidable! Where's the line? Why do things like this still happen?
 
Why is it always decent.people that get killed in accidents like this? It's never some scumbag, rehab retread that's just hanging out.
 
I wonder if the underground utilities were located and marked per proper protocol before any digging, drilling or excavating began. So sad.
 
... the building which now housed a Porsche collection & a coffee shop.

I hadn't heard that yet. I did hear the audio played several times on the radio. With the way it sounded and from the look of the building I'm surprised no one else was killed.
 
It's always regrettable when something like this happens, especially when life is lost. Something similar happened in N TX a day or so ago, a contractor's employee drilled into a live gas line, but the explosion didn't kill anybody in that situation. There have also been a couple of explosions from painters doing interior renovations using some lacquers in a closed room, as the vapors ignited. TWICE, about two weeks apart in different parts of the area.

CBODY67
 
Horrible. How hard is it to call whatever call before you dig phone number is the area?
 
The fact that there was an obvious gas leak before the contractor's employee drilled into the sidewalk might also speak to an "aging infrastructure" situation for the gas lines themselves. The regional gas supplier has replaced over 100 miles of old gas lines in ONE Dallas area over the past year, after a house exploded one morning, killing a 12 year old girl. A continuing problem in many parts of the country.

In the past decade, lots of gas issues due to the expansive nature of the North Texas soils. Which have impacted many "slip joints" in residential gas lines, with some resultant explosions.

Either way it might have happened, still not good.

CBODY67
 
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