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Multiple Gas Explosions Set More Than 60 homes Ablaze Across Three Communities (1 Viewer)

Dinsy Ejotuz

Footballguy
Residents of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover (MA) advised to leave their houses.

A series of gas explosions tore through several Massachusetts communities Thursday, setting numerous homes on fire and forcing evacuations in at least three towns.

Following reports of between 60 and 100 fires, state police ordered residents of Lawrence, North Andover and Andover to leave their homes. Highways have been closed to aid in the evacuation.

Massachusetts State Police say troopers have been dispatched to Lawrence, Andover and North Andover to secure the areas and help traffic snarled by panicked residents fleeing their neighborhoods during the evening rush hour.

The cause wasn’t immediately clear.

The Columbia Gas company had announced earlier Thursday that it would be upgrading gas lines in neighborhoods across the state, including the area where the explosions happened. Gas lines are currently being depressurized and National Grid, the electric company, announced it will cut off all electricity in affected 
 
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I live a few towns over and it is a complete ****show right now...real scary stuff...never seen anything like this...those houses in Lawrence are bunched up real tight so there’s a lot of room for error with these fires...a few hours ago I was driving thru Tewksbury which is right next to Andover...I actually pulled over to check my car because I could smell gas and thought something was up (this was before I knew what was going on)...I am gonna guess it had something to do with this event...could smell it clear as day...

 
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I live a few towns over and it is a complete ****show right now...real scary stuff...never seen anything like this...those houses in Lawrence are bunched up real tight so there’s a lot of room for error with these fires...a few hours ago I was driving thru Tewksbury which is right next to Andover...I actually pulled over to check my car because I could smell gas and thought something was up...I am gonna guess it had something to do with this event...could smell it clear as day...
I was raised in Tewksbury, and my parents still live there.  I called home to check if everything was fine back home.  It is, but I assume like most people in that area right now they were glued to the news.

 
I was raised in Tewksbury, and my parents still live there.  I called home to check if everything was fine back home.  It is, but I assume like most people in that area right now they were glued to the news.
I was on 38 when I smelled it...

 
Holy #### . I’m in Wilmington . I’m actually in Jamaica now but my wife is sick today so I’ve just been sitting on my balcony tooling around the internet 

 
I work in Andover. On the commute home, I saw 4 helicopters hovering over 495, so I assumed it was an accident.Then I saw and smelled smoke from multiple locations once I got on the highway. It smelled like one giant forest fire.

My son started a job delivering pizzas for a place in North Andover. My wife was freaking out because he wasn't returning calls and texts. She called the pizza place and they said they were evacuating, but my son still wasn't responding. She called the pizza place again a half hour later. My son was there and was just leaving. Turns out the place hadn't evacuated, despite orders. My son just said "screw this", and left.

 
Sounds like a failure at a pressure regulation station sent high pressure through low pressure lines. (Speculation). The regulator on a house meter cuts 10s of pounds of pressure to ounces and can fail if you turn the shutoff valve on too quick. Imagine if 100s of pounds of main line pressure  suddenly came down the pipe. Not good. 

 
I work in Andover. On the commute home, I saw 4 helicopters hovering over 495, so I assumed it was an accident.Then I saw and smelled smoke from multiple locations once I got on the highway. It smelled like one giant forest fire.

My son started a job delivering pizzas for a place in North Andover. My wife was freaking out because he wasn't returning calls and texts. She called the pizza place and they said they were evacuating, but my son still wasn't responding. She called the pizza place again a half hour later. My son was there and was just leaving. Turns out the place hadn't evacuated, despite orders. My son just said "screw this", and left.








I hope everyone is safe, but as soon as the fires are out,  you need to make sure he understands the importance of having a good work ethic. 

 
sorry to hear this i hope that everyone is safe take care take that to the bank brohans
I used to be a bank teller in two of the towns these explosions are occurring in.  I was a teller in Andover initially.  They needed a teller to transfer to Lawrence, though, since several tellers quit because the bank kept getting robbed.  None of the middle-aged ladies would go to Lawrence so I said, "#### it, I'll go."

That should give you an idea about the humongous difference between Andover and Lawrence I referenced above.

[P.S.  Could someone translate this post to Spanish so that people from Lawrence can read it.]

 
does anyone hear anything about what caused this i read something about a third party line strike earlier its scary as hell this could be anywhere in the us

 
My wife works in Andover and drove through all 3 towns to get home. Took hours. I live a few thousand feet from the North Andover line. The sheer number of emergency vehicles in the area is crazy. Traffic is unreal, too.

Bad time for me to be in Arizona.

 
Yep, those lanes have loads of stuff for the kids, but they're also pretty damn cool for adults given the full sports bar and outdoor fire pits and bocce ball.  

That spot will always be the home of the tawdry Motel Caswell to me, though.  I was so happy when the Caswell prevailed over the Department of Justice.
I don't think the word tawdry gives the Caswell enough credit...nothing but drug deals and sexual transactions going on there... 

 
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) had a residential explosion in San Bruno, CA a few years back and they deservedly got pulled through the wringer by the regulators. That looks like small potatoes compared to what happened today in Massachusetts.

 
My VP of Sales for the NE lives there. 30 explosions in his neighborhood. He was at a client dinner out of state. Total mess

 
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) had a residential explosion in San Bruno, CA a few years back and they deservedly got pulled through the wringer by the regulators. That looks like small potatoes compared to what happened today in Massachusetts.
Not to downplay what's going on today but an explosion with a thousand foot wall of fire (that measured 1.1 on the richter scale), eight deaths, and 38 homes destroyed isn't small potatoes.  

Aftermath

 
I work in Andover. On the commute home, I saw 4 helicopters hovering over 495, so I assumed it was an accident.Then I saw and smelled smoke from multiple locations once I got on the highway. It smelled like one giant forest fire.

My son started a job delivering pizzas for a place in North Andover. My wife was freaking out because he wasn't returning calls and texts. She called the pizza place and they said they were evacuating, but my son still wasn't responding. She called the pizza place again a half hour later. My son was there and was just leaving. Turns out the place hadn't evacuated, despite orders. My son just said "screw this", and left.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/loverboy/#

 
It may be difficult to find two adjacent towns/cities in America that are more different than Andover and Lawrence.
Roxbury and West Roxbury at least should be in the conversation.

It's been pretty crazy following this on the news here in Boston, knowing it's going on just about 20 miles north.  :(

 
Roxbury and West Roxbury at least should be in the conversation.

It's been pretty crazy following this on the news here in Boston, knowing it's going on just about 20 miles north.  :(
I have family from West Roxbury so, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about and agree that's a contender.

 
Just found out my aunt and her family just got the evacuation orders. They live in N Andover. Least they have plenty of family in nearby towns. House is okay last I knew. Hopefully it's under control soon.

 
When I was a kid there was a fire bug in our small town. One night it was a local factory and an old abandoned school, then a few weeks later four different fires around town at the same time. I thought those were crazy nights ... my dad was assistant fire chief. I can only imagine what it's like for the FD, police and everyone else in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover right now.

 
I had a virus today and stayed home sick. I would have been driving home through that stretch had I gone into work today. I will be calling in tomorrow, too.

 
Got called in for this. Haven’t seen anything like it in 25 yrs of working. Lotta good stops by all different community fire departments working together. Heard 1 fatal in Lawrence. 

 
Al O'Pecia said:
I used to be a bank teller in two of the towns these explosions are occurring in.  I was a teller in Andover initially.  They needed a teller to transfer to Lawrence, though, since several tellers quit because the bank kept getting robbed.  None of the middle-aged ladies would go to Lawrence so I said, "#### it, I'll go."

That should give you an idea about the humongous difference between Andover and Lawrence I referenced above.

[P.S.  Could someone translate this post to Spanish so that people from Lawrence can read it.]
Take yourself to the bank across town, bromigo.

 

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