The hole in the ground where the Scores strip club used to be isn’t the only hole in Springfield this morning.
Media reporting has left a gaping, unexplained hole after Columbia Gas admitted the cause of the explosion on Worthington Street was human error.
Here’s a basic timeline of what happened Friday, November 23:
- potential gas leak reported
- 4:05pm Columbia gas shows up
- 4:20pm Columbia gas punctures the pipe
- Columbia gas reports the puncture and evacuation proceeds
- 5:25pm explosion
Okay, why/how did Columbia Gas originally show up? It wasn’t for the puncture that happened at 4:20.
In fact, there have been reports of natural gas smells at Scores for some time:
On Friday night, a dancer at the club told the Globe that she had smelled gas in the building over the past four months. She said the club’s owner used deodorizers to mask the scent.
Besides, the puncture happened out on the street, at the building foundation. In one hour how does an overpowering gas smell move from outside to inside the building on the second floor?
Lastly, except for one story in the Boston Globe, media members seem to be afraid to speak with strippers that worked at Scores. It might upset some sensibilities, but talking to the strippers might push this story along.
Photo from WBUR/AP.