To further clarify what the other guy said, explosions with natural gas come from large quantities igniting all at once. In order to ignite, there must be fire, yes, but also oxygen.
But Mr. Bear, look at all that open space, there's plenty of oxygen
Yes, but there's not plenty of gas in that open space. The gas is contained in the lines and the oxygen is outside in the open. Even if the fire managed to rupture the lines (an extremely unlikely event; you're not burning through steel pipe with a fucking blanket and batteries), all that would happen is that the gas coming out of the pipe would ignite as it reached the oxygen in the air. You would end up with what is essentially a blowtorch.
Dangerous, yes. Explosive, no.
If you have access to plenty of open land, you can test this yourself by taking a propane tank out and shooting it (from far away, obviously). It doesn't explode like the movies, you just punch a hole in it and it maybe ignites and you get a jet of fire coming out of it.
To further clarify what the other guy said, explosions with natural gas come from large quantities igniting all at once. In order to ignite, there must be fire, yes, but also oxygen.
Yes, but there's not plenty of gas in that open space. The gas is contained in the lines and the oxygen is outside in the open. Even if the fire managed to rupture the lines (an extremely unlikely event; you're not burning through steel pipe with a fucking blanket and batteries), all that would happen is that the gas coming out of the pipe would ignite as it reached the oxygen in the air. You would end up with what is essentially a blowtorch.
Dangerous, yes. Explosive, no.
If you have access to plenty of open land, you can test this yourself by taking a propane tank out and shooting it (from far away, obviously). It doesn't explode like the movies, you just punch a hole in it and it maybe ignites and you get a jet of fire coming out of it.