If you haven't seen it, the gas line rupture in California is a major incident. Look on news.google.com for more information.

Many locations have gas lines passing through them, but gas pipelines are a whole different thing. High pressures and long distances combine to create what amounts to a massive fuel load that even if cut off with a valve upstream of the break takes a long time to burn off.

While there's little you can do to prepare for a rare disaster such as this one, at least be aware.

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IMHO it is prudent to maintain some level of situational awareness and part of that is having a working understanding of where things that might go boom, or be hazard if it catches fire, are located.

Pipelines, rail-roads and highways are good to know about because you never know what might be traveling around them. A truckload of agricultural chemicals that catches fire can put large areas at risk. You can add industrial sites that contain potentially hazardous materials. A local boat plant went up a few years ago and entire neighborhoods had to be evacuated because of the large amounts of resins and paints present.

One people forget about are warehouses that contain agricultural and industrial supplies. These buildings are easy to miss and are poorly marked. Even as they can have great qualities of toxic, flammable, and toxic materials.

Fuel supply depots and even regular gas stations are useful to know about. Even a small gas station can block an intersection for a long time if it catches fire.

Supply depots are handy because fewer people know about them. Most seem to sell to anyone but they are mainly set up for contractors and fleet fueling. One year a hurricane was closing in and all the local gas stations were out of gas. Wanting to top up my supply I went to a local supply depot and was able to get the gas I wanted.

It pays to know where hazards are. Keeping this in mind, and the prevailing wind direction, can give you an idea of what areas might be at risk if there is a fire or explosion.

As I mentioned I bought (and fortunately sold) a residential lot with a line running through it. I had all sorts of ideas to build in such a way so that if there was a problem yada yada yada. . .

Bottom line for me was that the lot came with too many restrictions so I put it back on the market and made a relatively large profit (early 90's). I'm sure there are a lot of gas lines that never have any issues, but every once in a while you get what happened in San Bruno. . .

California wildfires I can deal with, plenty of warning to protect livestock, pets, valuables. . .

San Bruno was virtually zero warning. Firefighters watching the flames helplessly because the inferno was beyond their capability. . .

Crews try to reach smoldering homes after blast

I live near a rail line and a secondary feeder highway off the main west coast Interstate.

Knowing which way the wind blows could be crucial to an escape plan. Here, the prevailing wind is from the west, but in the mornings it often blows from the east, and other times it comes from the south.

I haven't done it, but I've often thought that a simple weathervane could be very useful in such a situation. It would be really stupid to race TOWARD a leaking chlorine tank...

Sue