If this keeps happening, we may add a department called Leak of the Week.

Saturday, March 16—the day before St. Patrick’s Day—13 houses on Union and George streets in West Springfield had to be evacuated because of a gas leak. A worker from Columbia Gas investigated and “got a reading that was just below the explosive level,” according to Deputy Fire Chief Joe Sawyer, quoted in the Springfield Republican.

What is it with natural gas and holidays? The day after Thanksgiving a gas explosion leveled a strip club in Springfield. Now the day before Pat’s we have a high-pressure in a vacant building in West Springfield. We have firefighters risking life and limb to pry plywood off the windows and let out the gas.

And just a little over a month ago there was a gas leak from a manhole on Federal Street in Greenfield that forced first responders to evacuate Domino’s Pizza and a Cumberland Farms store.

When is the Legislature going to pass the bill filed by Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead) that requires systematic surveillance and timely repair of gas line leaks ( “A Bomb Under Our Streets,” December 6, 2012)? Before a cracked pipe leads to a leak on your street, call your state rep and ask that question.•