Hi Robert,

I can understand your concern, but if you've ever known a firefighter you'd have to know not one of them would ever place money in front of saving a life or property.

From an experienced watcher of what happens after earthquakes which result in fires, what you will see is that the gas company shuts down the area's that are directly affected by gas leaks, while the fire department does its best to put out the fires which resulted from those leaks and works on rescue as necessary.

It would take them months to restore services to entire cities, especially if you are talking about cities with greater than 20,000 residents, so the prudent advise to shut down your own line is the most immediate effort and greatly reduces the number of relighting efforts.

When I lived the Pacific Northwest often we had terrific windstorms which required long periods for folks in outlying areas to have their electricity restored. I bet any one of them could tell you its not fun to be cold in the winter and darn difficult to resume a normal life when you have to wait a week or two for restored service.

Last week when the Gilroy earthquake occurred someone did not have their water heater strapped and it caused most of their house to go up in flames when the earthquake shook it loose from its location. This is a very simple matter to address and I wonder often how many residents don't attend to this simple task.

More than once a month I am asked why its a good idea to retrofit a home. I am amazed that folks have to ask that question, but I tell them politely of course that while the home is shifting off its foundation from an earthquake, the water lines and the gas lines are shifting and snapping at the same time. Not only does this cause considerable damage, but to be inside of a house doing this maneuver is not a fun place to be.

Sometimes its not up to "them", but us to take responsibility for our "own" and leave them to the most pressing issues. Lifesaving efforts.

Thanks for bringing the issue forward, its a good one.

Petra