Bellingham Homes Shattered by Icy Blast
Frozen pipes trigger violent explosions across the city, leaving one woman injured and houses in ruins.
The story, cleaned up
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Frozen water pipes in three kitchens resulted in as many terrific explosions this morning in Bellingham residences, wrecking the houses and endangering the lives of half a dozen persons. The only injury reported was that suffered by Mrs. H. W. Williams, who was struck about the face and head by flying bits of iron and painfully cut. The three residences involved were those occupied by Edward J. Campbell, H. W. Williams, and George Douglas. The concussion was terrific, shaking the houses in the entire block. All the windows in the rear portion of the houses were shattered, the doors blown out and plaster knocked from the walls. A huge piece of stove was blown through a heavy wooden door into an adjoining toilet room, completely wrecking its furnishings.
“A huge piece of the stove was blown through a heavy wooden door into an adjoining toilet room, completely wrecking its furnishings.”
Winter infrastructure failures remain a perennial crisis in the Pacific Northwest. While modern building codes aim to prevent such catastrophic pipe bursts, the shock of a 'cold snap' still exposes the fragility of older housing stock and local public utilities.
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