Multiple Fires, Gas Explosions in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, Massachusetts – Live Updates

LAWRENCE, Mass. – A series of gas explosions described by an official as Armageddon killed a teenager, injured at least 10 others and set fire to at least 39 homes in three communities north of Boston, forcing entire neighborhoods to equip themselves scrambled to fight the flames and cut the gas.

Authorities said Leonel Rondon, 18, of Lawrence, died Thursday after a chimney was knocked down by a blazing house. He was transported to a Boston hospital but was pronounced dead in the evening.

The Massachusetts State Police urged all residents with homes serviced by Columbia Gas in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover to evacuate, rumble the traffic and cause widespread confusion, locals and local authorities struggling to understand what was happening.

"It looked like Armageddon, it really did," said Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield. "There were streams of smoke coming from Lawrence behind me, I could see columns of smoke in front of me from Andover City."

Governor Charlie Baker said that the state and local authorities were investigating, but that it could take days or weeks before responses are made.

"It's still a very active scene," he said. "There will be a lot of time later in the evening, tomorrow morning and the next day to do the work on the exact determination of what happened and why."

A few hours after the blasts, the utility's parent company issued a brief statement that its crews were still conducting security checks in the area.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by today's incident," NiSource said in a statement. "The first priority for our teams at the scene is to ensure the safety of our customers and the community."

Earlier, Baker said the authorities did not hear about Columbia Gas directly, but then called the company's response "adequate."

By the end of Thursday, all the fires were watered, but many areas remained silent and dark after the residents fled and the electricity companies cut off electricity to prevent further fires. .

Images from CBS Boston's Skyeye helicopter on Thursday night showed large areas of dark neighborhoods, lit only by police car lights, scattered to maintain peace and direct traffic.

Schools in all three communities were canceled for Friday and some schools were used as shelters for residents.

Lawrence resident Bruce Razin was among the evacuees standing in front of the Colonial Heights neighborhood, near the city's high school, trying to decide what to do late Thursday night.

Authorities had cut power in the area and the streets were black, except for emergency vehicle fires. Razin said that he had arrived just when the locals were evacuated and immediately saw the two-door house was razed by an explosion.

"I could not imagine if it was my home," said Razin, who bought his home almost two years ago. "It's total destruction, I would be completely devastated."

With a backpack filled with personal items he had hastily caught him, he said that he would go to his mother's home in a few towns for the night.

In Lawrence, a man whose neighborhood was among dozens of people on fire said that he had run into his basement to find that the room was shining. Resident Ra Nam says that he was in his yard when the smoke detector in his basement went out around 4:30 pm. EDT Thursday.

When he ran downstairs and saw the boiler on fire, he quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and turned it off. A few minutes later, Nam said he heard a loud noise from his neighbor's house and that the floor was shaking. Nam said that one woman and two children were out of the house but that the basement was on fire.

The Lawrence General Hospital reported that it was treating 10 victims, including at least one in critical condition.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency attributed the fires to gas lines that had become too pressurized, but investigators were still looking into what had happened.

Columbia had announced Thursday that it would improve gas lines in neighborhoods throughout the state, including the area where the explosions took place. It was not clear if the work was going on there Thursday, and a spokesperson did not answer the calls.

Offered by phone, some local officials described scenes of panic as residents rushed to evacuate, many wondering if their homes would burst into flames. In north Andover, city coach Phil Decologero said his entire neighborhood had gathered in the street, fearing entry to their homes. A few streets down, he said, the houses were burning.

"It's really a scary situation at the moment," he said. "It's pretty stern."

Aerial images of the area showed houses that seemed to be ripped apart by explosions. At one point, the top of a brick fireplace crushed an SUV parked in the driveway.

Shortly after the first fires, Lawrence City Councilor Marc Laplante warned the residents of the Colonial Heights neighborhood to evacuate, but said that traffic had become a problem.

"People have to get out of this area safely," he said at the time. "It's really difficult because the traffic is now horrible."

Joseph Solomon, the police chief of Methuen, said 20 to 25 homes were on fire at Lawrence when he responded to the help. He said that there were so many fires "we can not even see the sky".

The three communities are home to more than 146,000 people about 40 kilometers north of Boston, near the New Hampshire border. Lawrence, the largest of them, is a predominantly Latin American city of about 80,000 inhabitants.

"Lawrence is a very resilient community, and we're going to get there together," Mayor Dan Rivera told reporters as the emergency lights lit smoke in the night sky.

Gas explosions have caused casualties and destroyed properties around the United States in recent years:

– An accumulation of natural gas sparked an explosion and fire that killed seven people in apartments in Silver Spring, Maryland, in 2016.

– In 2014, a gas explosion in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York killed eight people and injured fifty. Consolidated Edison then agreed to pay $ 153 million for Con Ed to breach state security rules. A gas leak was reported before the explosion.

– A natural gas explosion in 2011 killed five people in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and regulators fined the state's largest gas company, which called the company's safety record "alarming" .

– In September 2010, a Pacific Gas and Electric gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno, California, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes.