We all take some things for granted. There are things we use every day that we often take for granted, such as being able to run to a store when we need to, having water coming out of the faucet, the lights going on when we hit the switch and the water heater keeping our showers hot.
But we all learned again yesterday that sometimes what we take for granted is not always there, and can cause a big problem.
That’s what happened in Mission Valley when a contractor made a mistake, a big one, and broke a big natural gas line. In a matter of moments, potentially dangerous gas spewed into the air and suddenly, a major freeway was completely shut down, stores were closed, thousands were soon evacuated or told to shelter in place and not leave their homes. Water heaters, washers and dryers didn’t work. Electricity was turned off. And if you needed to light a candle, in some areas, you couldn’t even light a match.
For more than seven hours Wednesday, daily life in Mission Valley was different. Suddenly a lot of the things we take for granted every day and never even think about it were gone for most of the day.
Fortunately, very fortunately, that’s all that happened. When a big break occurs in a big natural gas line, very bad things can happen.
As one San Diego fire captain told KOGO News, we didn’t want another San Bruno, referring to the natural gas line explosion eight years ago that blew up a Bay Area neighborhood in Northern California and killed eight people.
Thanks to firefighters, police, SDGE and others, a disaster like that didn’t happen here. But then what first responders do every day to keep our communities safe is not a surprise. And yes maybe we take them for granted too sometimes.
(Photo credit 10News)