Thousands of residents across three Massachusetts communities were
told not to return to their homes Friday morning after a sudden series
of gas explosions and fires ravaged the area in the Merrimack Valley the
evening before. The explosion left one dead and more than 20 injured,
one critically.
As many as 80 buildings were burned as terrified residents reported a
blaze, an explosion, or the smell of gas. Fires lit up home after home
as emergency responders attempted to extinguish them with hoses that
were losing pressure from being overburdened. Firefighters were fighting
multiple blazes at a time.
Hundreds of public safety workers from Eastern Massachusetts and
Southern New Hampshire descended on the area Thursday evening. Andover
police spokesman John Guilfoil said that in that town alone more than
200 firefighters were working at the peak of the crisis, along with 30
Andover police officers, 209 members of regional SWAT teams, and 13
State Police troopers.
According to authorities, some 8,600 homes or businesses in the towns
of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, north of Boston, were affected
by an overpressurized gas line operated by Columbia Gas of
Massachusetts. Stunned residents were told to immediately evacuate their
homes, and most left with only the clothes on their backs, gathering up
children and pets.
Dazed residents left the area, some by foot, others by car. Those who
had no nearby relatives were told to go to five shelters that were
hastily opened, and about 400 people ended up staying in these shelters
overnight. Family members used cell phones and social media to try to
locate loved ones who had been at school or work when the blasts began
just before 5 p.m.
Electricity was also cut off to avoid igniting any gas. As night
fell, local news helicopters recorded an eerie scene as the only light
visible came from the headlights of vehicles jamming I-495 and emergency
vehicles in the affected area that was cordoned off. As of Friday
afternoon, some 18,000 National Grid electrical customers in the three
communities were still without power.
“It looked like Armageddon, it really did,” Andover Fire Chief
Michael Mansfield told reporters. “There were billows of smoke coming
from Lawrence behind me. I could see pillars of smoke in front of me
from the town of Andover.” News footage showed some houses reduced to
rubble, reminiscent of a war zone.
Killed was 18-year-old Leonel Rondon of Lawrence. Rondon had just
gotten his license and was sitting in a car parked in the driveway with
three friends when the house exploded. His friend Christian Caraballo
told the
Boston Globe, “We heard a noise, then we felt it again
and heard it. I seen the front of the house explode to the street.” The
walls of the house collapsed, then the chimney fell on the car,
severely injuring Rondon, who died later at the hospital. His friends
suffered lesser injuries.
(Leonel Rondon of Lawrence)\
Lawrence, where Rondon lived, is a larger and far poorer city than
the adjoining towns of Andover and North Andover. Lawrence was once a
thriving mill town, attracting immigrants from around the world to work
in its mills. With the decline of manufacturing in the 1950s, the city
suffered a devastating economic decline. In 2016, the median household
income was about $26,000, compared to the US average of $42,000.
Columbia Gas technicians accompanied by firefighters, police or local
officials began visiting every one of the 8,600 homes and businesses in
Lawrence, Andover and North Andover affected by Friday night’s events
to shut off each gas meter and conduct a safety inspection. Residents
can return to their homes only when their blocks are listed as safe on
their city or town’s web sites.
Authorities say it will take days, not hours, for their inspections
to be completed. Once residents are allowed to return to their homes,
they are required to call the gas company to have their gas meters
turned back on. While electricity may be restored within days to some
homes, it may be weeks before gas service restored.
Residents have received little to no information from Columbia Gas
about why the explosions happened or when they can expect to return to
their homes. The gas company dispatched representatives to answer
questions, but repeatedly told angry residents that they had “no
answers.”
One woman asked whether it was safe to run a generator, and the Columbia rep said she didn’t know. Milton Valencia of the
Globe
tweeted Friday: “I am in No. Andover and Columbia gas reps just ran
away from residents who were bombarding them with questions they didn’t
know the answers to.” The rep told the residents that he “would take
your questions back” to the company.
Columbia Gas is part of NiSource, a utility company with 3.5 million
natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers in seven states:
Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Virginia. The company has not given any explanation for Thursday’s
incident, saying only that they were investigating its cause.
While Columbia Gas has been tight-lipped, Kurt Schwartz, the state’s
head emergency management official, said at a Friday morning news
conference that more than 8,000 gas meters were fed by “distribution
lines that were overpressurized.” He said that the investigation would
focus “on the distribution system and the origin of the pressure.”
Experts indicate that overpressurization could be caused by someone
opening a valve or a mechanical failure on a control valve.
A press release posted Thursday on Columbia Gas’s website, before the
explosions, announced work to upgrade natural gas lines and improve
service, three ongoing projects in Lawrence, four in Andover, and two in
North Andover. It is unclear whether these projects had any connection
to Thursday night’s events.
In the months leading up to the incident, Columbia Gas sought to
raise rates for consumers by $44.5 million, which they claimed was
necessary in part to cover operating costs to comply with federal and
state safety regulations that were causing a “revenue deficiency.”
Columbia Gas agreed just last week to reduce the distribution rate
increase for its 321,000 Massachusetts customers by about $11 million,
to $33.2 million.
A subsidiary of NiSource, Columbia’s parent company, was blamed by
federal investigators for its role in a previous pipeline rupture in
Sissonville, West Virginia The explosion and subsequent fire destroyed
three homes, melted the siding on nearby houses nearby, and heavily
damaged an interstate highway, according to federal reports.
Whichever for-profit company sells gas in the Merrimack Valley or
oversees the response to the explosions, the area is served by some of
the country’s oldest and most leak-prone pipes. Columbia Gas has more
miles of old, cast-iron gas mains than all but 15 utilities in the US,
according to a
USA Today analysis of federal safety data.
The analysis shows that about every other day over the past decade, a
gas leak in the US has destroyed property, hurt someone or killed
someone. Since 2004, the most destructive explosions have killed at
least 135 people.
Because the energy conglomerates are not willing to pay the estimated
$1 million per mile to replace these aging pipes—unless customers pay
to offset any drain on their profits—communities such as those in the
Merrimack Valley are sitting on virtual time bombs in the form of
potentially deadly leaking gas pipes.
Thousands of residents across three Massachusetts communities were
told not to return to their homes Friday morning after a sudden series
of gas explosions and fires ravaged the area in the Merrimack Valley the
evening before. The explosion left one dead and more than 20 injured,
one critically.
As many as 80 buildings were burned as terrified residents reported a
blaze, an explosion, or the smell of gas. Fires lit up home after home
as emergency responders attempted to extinguish them with hoses that
were losing pressure from being overburdened. Firefighters were fighting
multiple blazes at a time.
Hundreds of public safety workers from Eastern Massachusetts and
Southern New Hampshire descended on the area Thursday evening. Andover
police spokesman John Guilfoil said that in that town alone more than
200 firefighters were working at the peak of the crisis, along with 30
Andover police officers, 209 members of regional SWAT teams, and 13
State Police troopers.
According to authorities, some 8,600 homes or businesses in the towns
of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, north of Boston, were affected
by an overpressurized gas line operated by Columbia Gas of
Massachusetts. Stunned residents were told to immediately evacuate their
homes, and most left with only the clothes on their backs, gathering up
children and pets.
Dazed residents left the area, some by foot, others by car. Those who
had no nearby relatives were told to go to five shelters that were
hastily opened, and about 400 people ended up staying in these shelters
overnight. Family members used cell phones and social media to try to
locate loved ones who had been at school or work when the blasts began
just before 5 p.m.
Electricity was also cut off to avoid igniting any gas. As night
fell, local news helicopters recorded an eerie scene as the only light
visible came from the headlights of vehicles jamming I-495 and emergency
vehicles in the affected area that was cordoned off. As of Friday
afternoon, some 18,000 National Grid electrical customers in the three
communities were still without power.
“It looked like Armageddon, it really did,” Andover Fire Chief
Michael Mansfield told reporters. “There were billows of smoke coming
from Lawrence behind me. I could see pillars of smoke in front of me
from the town of Andover.” News footage showed some houses reduced to
rubble, reminiscent of a war zone.
Killed was 18-year-old Leonel Rondon of Lawrence. Rondon had just
gotten his license and was sitting in a car parked in the driveway with
three friends when the house exploded. His friend Christian Caraballo
told the
Boston Globe, “We heard a noise, then we felt it again
and heard it. I seen the front of the house explode to the street.” The
walls of the house collapsed, then the chimney fell on the car,
severely injuring Rondon, who died later at the hospital. His friends
suffered lesser injuries.
Lawrence, where Rondon lived, is a larger and far poorer city than
the adjoining towns of Andover and North Andover. Lawrence was once a
thriving mill town, attracting immigrants from around the world to work
in its mills. With the decline of manufacturing in the 1950s, the city
suffered a devastating economic decline. In 2016, the median household
income was about $26,000, compared to the US average of $42,000.
Columbia Gas technicians accompanied by firefighters, police or local
officials began visiting every one of the 8,600 homes and businesses in
Lawrence, Andover and North Andover affected by Friday night’s events
to shut off each gas meter and conduct a safety inspection. Residents
can return to their homes only when their blocks are listed as safe on
their city or town’s web sites.
Authorities say it will take days, not hours, for their inspections
to be completed. Once residents are allowed to return to their homes,
they are required to call the gas company to have their gas meters
turned back on. While electricity may be restored within days to some
homes, it may be weeks before gas service restored.
Residents have received little to no information from Columbia Gas
about why the explosions happened or when they can expect to return to
their homes. The gas company dispatched representatives to answer
questions, but repeatedly told angry residents that they had “no
answers.”
One woman asked whether it was safe to run a generator, and the Columbia rep said she didn’t know. Milton Valencia of the
Globe
tweeted Friday: “I am in No. Andover and Columbia gas reps just ran
away from residents who were bombarding them with questions they didn’t
know the answers to.” The rep told the residents that he “would take
your questions back” to the company.
Columbia Gas is part of NiSource, a utility company with 3.5 million
natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers in seven states:
Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Virginia. The company has not given any explanation for Thursday’s
incident, saying only that they were investigating its cause.
While Columbia Gas has been tight-lipped, Kurt Schwartz, the state’s
head emergency management official, said at a Friday morning news
conference that more than 8,000 gas meters were fed by “distribution
lines that were overpressurized.” He said that the investigation would
focus “on the distribution system and the origin of the pressure.”
Experts indicate that overpressurization could be caused by someone
opening a valve or a mechanical failure on a control valve.
A press release posted Thursday on Columbia Gas’s website, before the
explosions, announced work to upgrade natural gas lines and improve
service, three ongoing projects in Lawrence, four in Andover, and two in
North Andover. It is unclear whether these projects had any connection
to Thursday night’s events.
In the months leading up to the incident, Columbia Gas sought to
raise rates for consumers by $44.5 million, which they claimed was
necessary in part to cover operating costs to comply with federal and
state safety regulations that were causing a “revenue deficiency.”
Columbia Gas agreed just last week to reduce the distribution rate
increase for its 321,000 Massachusetts customers by about $11 million,
to $33.2 million.
A subsidiary of NiSource, Columbia’s parent company, was blamed by
federal investigators for its role in a previous pipeline rupture in
Sissonville, West Virginia The explosion and subsequent fire destroyed
three homes, melted the siding on nearby houses nearby, and heavily
damaged an interstate highway, according to federal reports.
Whichever for-profit company sells gas in the Merrimack Valley or
oversees the response to the explosions, the area is served by some of
the country’s oldest and most leak-prone pipes. Columbia Gas has more
miles of old, cast-iron gas mains than all but 15 utilities in the US,
according to a
USA Today analysis of federal safety data.
The analysis shows that about every other day over the past decade, a
gas leak in the US has destroyed property, hurt someone or killed
someone. Since 2004, the most destructive explosions have killed at
least 135 people.
Because the energy conglomerates are not willing to pay the estimated
$1 million per mile to replace these aging pipes—unless customers pay
to offset any drain on their profits—communities such as those in the
Merrimack Valley are sitting on virtual time bombs in the form of
potentially deadly leaking gas pipes.
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Will it take a nuclear war with Russia to teach Putin a lesson. America's leaders are not afraid to start a nuclear war. Liberals and Conservatives are united in wanting war with Russia - one man stands in the way. Putin's puppet - the president of the United States. Were these explosions Putin's message to Trump? 
