December 1998 was unseasonably mild. That meant crews installing fiber-optic cable in St. Cloud were able to work longer into the season because the ground wasn't yet frozen. So when a crew installing a utility pole anchor on the south side of First Street North in downtown St. Cloud on Dec. 11, 1998 encountered a problem, it wasn't frozen dirt. It was a large granite slab hidden under the sidewalk. When the anchor hit that slab 20 years ago, it bent and its tip ruptured a gas pipeline. St. Cloud would never be the same. The crew immediately noticed dirt blowing out of the hole in the sidewalk and began to smell gas. The crew's foreman called his supervisor and the crew blocked off the area. But the utility company and fire department were not immediately notified so they did not arrive as quickly as they could have.