Gas blasts in Boston kill 1, injure dozen
ANDOVER: Dozens of gas explosions killed at least one person, injured 12 more and forced thousands to evacuate from three communities north of Boston yesterday.
About 8000 people were displaced after the blasts levelled dozens of homes and other buildings in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence. Firefighters raced for hours from one blaze to another and utility crews rushed to shut off gas and electricity to prevent further ignitions.
An 18yearold Lawrence man, Leonel Rondon, died when an explosion caused a chimney to fall on his car, a spokeswoman at Massachusetts General Hospital said. Lawrence General Hospital said it had treated 13 people for injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to blast trauma.
‘‘This has been obviously an incredibly difficult day,’’ Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said in a news conference last night.
About 70 fires, explosions or investigations of gas odour were reported, Massachusetts State Police said. Fire investigators suspected ‘‘overpressurisation of a gas main’’ belonging to Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, a unit of the utility NiSource Inc, caused the explosions, Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield said.
NiSource spokesman Ken Stammen said Columbia Gas was investigating. The US Department of Transportation’s pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration said it was sending a team to support the state’s emergency response efforts.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were also reported to be sending investigators.
Fire and utility crews were going door to door overnight to conduct safety checks, officials said.
Guilia Holland, a 35yearold mechanic in a wheelchair, said she had just got off a bus returning home when she saw ‘‘a big flash of light’’ at the house where she had been renting a room for a month.
‘‘Good thing I wasn’t home or I wouldn’t be talking about it,’’ she said outside a primary school in Lawrence that the Red Cross had converted into a shelter. — Reuters