Woman Doing Repairs Blows Up Her House

Newser.com ^ | 10/26/2015 | Neal Colgrass

[simpson96]

A Massachusetts woman apparently botched some home repairs yesterday and blew her house to smithereens, WBT reports. Lucky for Laurie Beliveau, 52, she fled her property in Taunton, Mass., minutes before the explosion. "We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded," says Paul Saltalamacchia, a neighbor who saw her crying for help. Seems that Beliveau was trying to fix her hot water heater—which was gas-fueled—when she took off the gas shut-off valve, according to fire officials. That allowed gas to leak into the basement and somehow get ignited.

"Everything caved in," says Taunton Deputy Fire Chief Scott Dexter. "It's just a pile of lumber. Nothing is salvageable." According to Saltalmacchia and police, Beliveau was at home in her bedroom when an initial explosion rocked the house and blew off her closet door, the Taunton Gazette reports. "She was walking up the street screaming 'Help me, help me! My house exploded!'" Saltalmacchia says. Another neighbor says Beliveau was once married but lived alone for years, barely communicating with others and living in apparently unsanitary conditions with dogs and cats. A "rotting-vegetable-type odor" could be smelled out back even after the explosion, the Gazette reports. "She should not have been here by herself," says the neighbor. "It doesn’t make sense."

[Lazamataz]

Well, at least she saved a few bucks on a professional repairman's fee.

So there's that.

[A CA Guy]

She votes and is like the 85% of women who always vote Democrat.

[longfellow]

Masshole.

[VanDeKoik]

The headlines needs no accompanying article.

[PistolPaknMama]

Look like it blowed up real good.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Why pay somebody else when you can do it yourself?

I always screw around with my gas appliances. What could happen?

[gr8eman]

She should have kept her mouth shut. No investigator would figure that someone could be that stupid, and figure it was an accident.

[Lazamataz]

Masshole.

WHAT'D I SAY???

[Lazamataz]

Masshole.

I mean, that's just RUDE, to call me that.

[Paul46360]

[Lazamataz]

Why pay somebody else when you can do it yourself? I always screw around with my gas appliances. What could happen?

Absolutely nothing. And on days when it's raining too hard to go to work, I like to work on the outdoor wiring.

[Redleg Duke]

Darwin, hard at work.

[Autonomous User]

Thankfully Insurance covers stupidity. If she had insurance...which I doubt based on the property discription...

[longfellow]

The woman laz. She’s from Massachusetts.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded,"

Were the sandals made of Potassium?

[jaydubya2]

"was trying to fix her hot water heater"

If the water was already hot, what was she trying to fix?

[Lazamataz]

The woman laz.

There's a Woman Laz?

We need to meet and reproduce.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

In MA, one is not allowed to disconnect or reconnect a gas line without a licensed plumber being engaged. For good reason as we see in this case.

[cripplecreek]

But she is staying in a Holiday Inn tonight.