Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Underground Blast Downtown Sacramento
KCRA Channel 3 ^

Posted on 11/20/2006 11:49:40 AM PST by Silicon Cowboy

Underground Blasts Hit Downtown Sacramento Power Out At City Hall, Worker Reports

POSTED: 11:27 am PST November 20, 2006 UPDATED: 11:38 am PST November 20, 2006

Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A series of underground explosions caused some power outages and traffic problems in downtown Sacramento Monday morning.

The first blast was reported in the area of Seventh and H streets shortly before 10 a.m.

Sacramento firefighters, light rail workers and Sacramento Municipal Utility District officials were at the scene investigating a possible electrical fire.

Power was out at City Hall and at least one other building, officials reported.

It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries resulting from the blasts.

For more details, watch KCRA 3 Reports at noon on television and streaming live on kcra.com.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last
To: Silicon Cowboy
...first blast was reported in the area of Seventh and H streets...

Very close to the Superior Court building & the DA's office...

...and the old Railroad Yard where the Las Vegas Maloof brothers wanted to build a new arena for the Kings if the taxpayers would go along with a 1/4% hike in the Sales Tax (that Measure lost by 80% to 20% as I recall)...

41 posted on 11/20/2006 12:30:01 PM PST by O Neill (Aye, Katie Scarlett, the ONLY thing that lasts is the land...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fierce Allegiance; Ben Mugged; All
Transformers will explode.

They sure do, and very violently. I've seen it happen. Electricity and transformers aren't the same thing, Ben. I'm not aware of any occasions when they did so en mass, however, and the article describes a series of explosions. That's just my two cents, I'm not trying to argue with anyone.

42 posted on 11/20/2006 12:30:51 PM PST by KarinG1 (Opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily represent those of sane people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Silicon Cowboy

Oil-filled power transformers, probably - another casualty of the rabid anti-cancer movement that caused the elimination of non-flammable PCB coolants for transformers.


43 posted on 11/20/2006 12:31:44 PM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fierce Allegiance
I see your substation and raise you one big zot
44 posted on 11/20/2006 12:32:41 PM PST by steveo (ADVERTISEMENT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

The Mole People are coming!


45 posted on 11/20/2006 12:36:46 PM PST by vollmond (Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Eckleburg
Why 90 minutes before this was repported?

How do you report a power outage when the power is out?

Of course if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction....

46 posted on 11/20/2006 12:36:55 PM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: KarinG1

Check out these articles in the (I know) NYT. Rarely is a transformer referred to.

I do underground utility infrastrucure construction, as well as heavy & highway construction, for a living.

Like I said, an arc inside a manhole can be called an explosion, although technically i't not a tru explosion.

I'm not arguing, either, jsut trying to explain it.


47 posted on 11/20/2006 12:39:33 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (<h2>SAY NO TO RUDY! I know how to spell, I just type like s#it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Old Professer

Also, sticking power cables underground where heat dissipation becomes a serious problem in anything bigger than a 115 kv line, and even those are susceptible.


48 posted on 11/20/2006 12:41:35 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (<h2>SAY NO TO RUDY! I know how to spell, I just type like s#it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: LongElegantLegs

Actually yes, a large power line can cause a tremendous explosion.


49 posted on 11/20/2006 12:46:49 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Fierce Allegiance; KarinG1

Forgot the link: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/explosions/index.html?query=MANHOLES&field=des&match=exact


50 posted on 11/20/2006 12:51:36 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (<h2>SAY NO TO RUDY! I know how to spell, I just type like s#it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: KarinG1

A 480volt 3 phase motor control box can arc over, it sounds like a concussion grenade and blows itself off the wall. All an explosion is normally is a rapid release of energy due to burning something. A High volt arc over does the same thing.

I saw a motor control room that blew at a log mill I worked in, heard it really and came running. Sounded like a couple of sticks of dynamite. Some idiot had replaced the mains with cut pieces of copper pipe and forgot to replace the fuses later. When it arced over, the flash burned through a 6x6 3/4 of the way in a half a second. The fire was out in less that 20 seconds due to a quick worker with an extinguisher.

The beam looked like it had been in a campfire for an hour. We ended up rebuilding and rewiring the whole room.

Lousey way to save a buck... But the explosion was awsome.


51 posted on 11/20/2006 12:53:21 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: American in Israel

480 would be phase to phase. I can hardly believe someone other than myself would be brave and/or stupid enough to bypass the fuses. I hope nobody was injured.


52 posted on 11/20/2006 1:06:36 PM PST by KarinG1 (Opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily represent those of sane people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Mo1

Hence, Michael Moore...


53 posted on 11/20/2006 1:53:58 PM PST by stevie_d_64 (Houston Area Texans (I've always been hated))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: cll

Very interesting map....


54 posted on 11/20/2006 1:57:09 PM PST by Kaylee Frye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Ben Mugged

"Actually electricity does blow up. Overloaded transformers full of oil heat up and explode in balls of fire."

Yup...transformers blow up real nice and purty!


55 posted on 11/20/2006 1:59:24 PM PST by TampaDude (If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the PROBLEM!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: All
And there is, if memory serves, a small sub-station at the corner of 7th & G....and this morning there was a dense fog throughout the Sacramento region, which is often denser than average near the confluence of the American & Sacramento Rivers (not far from 7th & G).

If Al Qaida IS covering Sacramento in their courses along the Afghan-Pakistan border, then it is ill-advised...their curriculum would certainly be of more depth & sophistication if it moved on to some more promising, urban area than 7th & G....

56 posted on 11/20/2006 2:13:46 PM PST by O Neill (Aye, Katie Scarlett, the ONLY thing that lasts is the land...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Silicon Cowboy
Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

Probably just someone lengthening the Grand Canyon tunnels.

57 posted on 11/20/2006 2:16:20 PM PST by Bill_o'Rights
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Silicon Cowboy

I'm certain the rats will cover this up and blame it on the other "party".....the party they will never attend and that
party is reality.


58 posted on 11/20/2006 2:30:56 PM PST by soycd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Silicon Cowboy
7th & H Street ? Interesting...... I stayed a few times at the Hostel at 10th & H Street in Sacramento. Nice place. I will probably be there next May/June when I take vacation.
59 posted on 11/20/2006 3:10:33 PM PST by CORedneck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Silicon Cowboy

Nothing hmmm. The excremists would have gone for the fatalities, not for the power lines. Must be some accident.


60 posted on 11/20/2006 6:03:44 PM PST by GSlob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson