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It was a sunny day when Bob, an experienced excavator, showed up with his backhoe to help a neighbor. There was no need to call for a stake-out, he'd lived in this neighborhood for a long time, he knew exactly where all the lines to the house were, just like you do. He parked his backhoe in the driveway, several yards from the house, and started to dig.

Thirty seconds later, a lot of things happened. He hit the gas pipe that fed the house. The pipe flexed, and broke... not outside, not where he hit it... it broke inside the house. A mother and her two children were inside... and by some miracle as she heard the hissing in the basement, she grabbed her kids and ran for the door. She was lucky, because when her foot hit the front step her entire house, everything inside it and everything she and her husband had worked for all these years had ceased to exist. She was lucky because most of the two story house was blown clear into the back yard, away from her. She was lucky because the explosion blew her and her children away from the fireball. Neighbors, who lived 40 - 60 yards away, were lucky too - only a few large pieces of burning debris actually managed to punch all the way through their walls, into their houses.

Bob was lucky too. He was lucky because he noticed when he hit the line. He was lucky because he got out of the backhoe to warn the woman in the house. He was lucky because he had made over five running steps before the explosion incinerated the backhoe. He was lucky because he only received severe burns and lacerations over most of his body. He was lucky because the woman and her two children would survive. He was lucky because he would live to be able to look at the wife, kids and husband and say, "I did that."

He was lucky because he got to serve as a great example, because most of us aren't as lucky as him.

The great irony of this story, believe it or not, was a wallet found in the grass by a firefighter. It was badly burned, leaving only a single clue as to who owned it. No joke.

Don't assume you know whether buried facilities are present. It only takes a couple of minutes to request a stake-out.

Don't bet on being as lucky as Bob.

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