Many house fires, apparently caused by gas explosions, erupted around Lawrence, Massachusetts on Thursday, prompting a reaction from police and firefighters, according to media reports.

Methuen police chief, Joseph Solomon, said there were 20 to 25 houses burned in Lawrence. Solomon, who is in Lawrence, says there are so many fires "we can not even see the sky".

No case of injury was reported immediately. In the nearby city of Andover, city officials were asking all residents and their businesses to evacuate if they smelled gas.

The Massachusetts state police reported responding to at least 17 separate reports of fires or explosions.

North Andover's Eagle-Tribune newspaper reports that at least one house was demolished and several others caught fire following a problem with a gas line supplying homes in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence.

The Massaschusetts state police reported that "many evacuations of neighborhoods with gas odors are in progress".

Lawrence's chief of police, Roy Vasque, told The Eagle-Tribune that he had "never seen anything like it".

At one point, firefighters radioed that there were 12 fires that the firefighters had not yet reached.

Lawrence is about 30 miles north of Boston, near the New Hampshire state line.

CONTRIBUTING: Associated Press

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