Investigators sift for answers in gas blasts
*LAWRENCE, Mass. — Investigators worked Friday to pinpoint the cause of a series of fiery natural gas explosions that killed a teen driver just hours after he got his license, injured at least 25 others and left dozens of homes in smoldering ruins.
Authorities said about 8,000 people were displaced at the height of Thursday’s post-explosion chaos in three towns north of Boston rocked by the disaster. Most were still waiting, shaken and exhausted, to be allowed to return to their homes.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to help investigate the disaster in a state where some of the aging gas pipeline system dates to the 1860s.
The rapid-fire series of gas explosions that one official described as “Armageddon” ignited fires in 60 to 80 homes in the working-class towns of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, forcing entire neighborhoods to evacuate as crews scrambled to fight the flames and shut off the gas and electricity. The communities house more than 146,000 residents. Lawrence, the largest of them, is a majority Latino city with a population of about 80,000.
Gas and electricity remained shut down Friday in most of the area.
Authorities said Leonel Rondon, 18, of Lawrence, died after a chimney toppled by an exploding house crashed into his car. He was rushed to a Boston hospital and pronounced dead Thursday. Rondon, a musician who went by the name DJ Blaze, had just gotten his driver’s license, grieving friends and relatives told The Boston Globe. “It’s crazy how this happened,” said friend Cassandra Carrion.
Massachusetts State Police urged residents with homes serviced by Columbia Gas in the three communities to evacuate, snarling traffic and causing widespread confusion as residents and local officials struggled to understand what was happening. Some 400 people spent the night in shelters, and school was canceled Friday as families waited to return to their homes.
Gov. Charlie Baker said state and local authorities were investigating, but it could take days or weeks before they turn up answers, acknowledging the “massive inconvenience” for those displaced by the explosions. He said hundreds of gas technicians were going house-to-house to ensure each was safe, and declared a state of emergency for the affected area so the state could take over recovery efforts.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency blamed the fires on gas lines that had become over-pressurized but said investigators were examining what happened.
Capturing the mounting sense of frustration, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., tweeted that he had called the utility’s president several times with no response. “Everyone wants answers. And we deserve them,” Moulton said.