In this image take from video provided by WCVB in Boston, firefighters battle a large fire in Lawrence, a suburb of Boston, on Thursday. Photo: WCVB via AP<doc-sep>At least 70 buildings north of Boston, Massachusetts have been set ablaze by what appears to be a ruptured gas line. Authorities are evacuating residents from parts of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. One person has died. The residents of the three communities north of Boston, serviced by Columbia Gas, have been ordered to evacuate after a reported gas line rupture triggered a series of violent explosions. One of the many fires in #Lawrencepic.twitter.com/04KeLnOe1m — Itz Pugg (@ItzPugg) September 13, 2018 Scores of homes have been damaged in the inferno. Photos posted on social media show raging fires and thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the buildings. #BREAKING: At least 20 gas explosions cause multiple fires across Lawrence, Massachusetts. pic.twitter.com/wnh0vZMPvr — UA News (@UrgentAlertNews) September 13, 2018 10 different fires started in lawrence all at the same time pic.twitter.com/MLyHW64wrH — Gerald (@GDARSHH) September 13, 2018 To give you a sense of how strained and spread out the resources are right now, this house is on fire in Lawrence and there are no firefighters there yet. #WBZpic.twitter.com/PLBTIfNfMo — Liam Martin (@LiamWBZ) September 13, 2018 At least a dozen people have been injured in the explosions and fires. Lawrence General Hospital reported that of 10 people that had been taken to the facility, one patient is in critical and one in serious condition. One patient was transferred to another hospital for treatment. The injuries range from smoke inhalation to "traumatic blast injuries," the hospital said, adding that its staff has been preparing “for multiple casualties.” One person was killed when a chimney from an exploding house landed on his car. Leonel Rondon, 18, of Lawrence was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to the Boston Globe. Several houses have crumbled as result of the explosions that have swept through Lawrence. House leveled in Lawrence after one of many explosions and fires in the area. @NBC10Bostonpic.twitter.com/61QpkA1oeK — Michael Rosenfield NBC10 Boston (@MikeRNBCBoston) September 13, 2018 Massachusetts State Police said that the gas lines are being depressurized, but noted that the process “will take some time.” All power in the three towns will be temporary shut off, to allow for essential repairs, police said. 🚨ADVISORY🚨 Power company will be shutting OFF power to all of #Lawrence, #NorthAndover, and #Andover to assist in the #Gas situation. — Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) September 13, 2018 Meanwhile, there are fears that the number of fires may rise, as police say the reports keep coming in. MSP Fusion Center has current updated tally of responses to fires/explosions/investigations of gas odor at 70. Spread over wide swath of south #Lawrence and northern part of #NorthAndover with several others across Merrimack River in north Lawrence. pic.twitter.com/a7kBYaWFrJ — Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) September 13, 2018 Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!<doc-sep>Annie Wilson, 73, was home alone in her third-floor apartment in south Lawrence when she smelled smoke. She opened her back door and smoke poured into the house. She ran out the front, and her parakeets flew away as she tried to rescue them. Fire quickly consumed the building. Ms. Wilson said she lost everything, including her husband’s ashes, which were in an urn, all her family photographs and all her clothes. “It was just crazy,” said Jessica Wilson, 43, Ms. Wilson’s daughter-in-law. “People were walking in the street with bags, kids were crying, there were sirens all over the place.” In the long hours after the fires, sections of the communities turned dark and silent, with power turned off and people told to leave. More than 18,000 customers were without electricity at one point on Thursday night. Long lines of traffic jammed the roads out of some towns. Traffic was crammed, too, near roads to shelters that were opened to those left homeless. Some exits off the major interstate highways were closed, and officials said the area’s schools would be shuttered on Friday. Thousands of people were left to sort out what to do. Some people said they were told to leave only if they smelled gas; others said they were told to leave regardless. Residents said they were uncertain whether to stay or go, and when they might return. “What we need folks to do is that if it’s happening in your home, you have a funny smell, just evacuate, come out to the street,” Mayor Dan Rivera of Lawrence told WBZ-TV. The worst part, said Maria Santana, who was at home in Lawrence when she smelled gas, was that the explosions came without warning and that no one in authority seemed to have any idea of what was happening. A school not far from her home that her children and grandchildren had attended was damaged, she said.<doc-sep>A natural gas leak fiasco sparked fires in at least 39 homes throughout northeast Massachusetts communities, killing a man, causing explosions, and creating widespread "Armageddon," police and local officials said Thursday. The fires, which erupted after suspected gas leaks around Lawrence, Massachusetts, are still unexplained. Authorities say one of the homes that exploded sent a chimney hurtling through the air and onto a car, fatally injuring the driver. “It looked like Armageddon, it really did,” Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield told reporters. “There were billows of smoke coming from Lawrence behind me. I could see pillars of smoke in front of me from the town of Andover.” Gov. Charlie Baker said state and local authorities are investigating but that it could take days or weeks before they turn up answers. “This is still very much an active scene,” he said. “There will be plenty of time later tonight, tomorrow morning and into the next day to do some of the work around determining exactly what happened and why.” Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon said there were 20 to 25 homes on fire in Lawrence. Solomon said there were so many fires “you (couldn't) even see the sky.” Officials have identified the victim who died as Leonel Rondon, of Lawrence. They say he was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he died around 8:30 p.m. ET of his injuries. At least 18 other people went to area hospitals with injuries. Lawrence General Hospital said it treated four victims with fire-related injuries but did not immediately release their conditions or the severity. State Police say at least 39 fires erupted Thursday afternoon in the communities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. It's unclear how many of the fires were in homes or other locations. The Associated Press reported that all of the fires were in homes. Andover officials said in a statement Thursday night that all 35 fires in the town have been extinguished. At the peak of the situation, they say 18 fires were burning at the same time in Andover. Schools in all three communities were canceled for Friday, and some schools were being used as shelters for residents. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency blamed the fires on gas lines that had become over-pressurized, but officials who responded to the area were still investigating the cause. State officials said Columbia Gas was working to ease pressure on gas lines following the fires. Columbia had announced earlier Thursday that it would be upgrading gas lines in neighborhoods across the state, including the area where the explosions happened. It was not clear whether work was happening there Thursday, and a spokeswoman did not immediately return calls. Reached by phone, some local officials described scenes of panic as residents rushed to evacuate, many wondering if their homes would be next to erupt in flames. In North Andover, town selectman Phil Decologero said his entire neighborhood had gathered in the street, afraid to enter their homes. Just a few streets down, he said, homes were burning. “It’s definitely a scary situation at the moment,” he said. “It’s pretty severe.” Lawrence resident Ra Nam says he was in his yard when the smoke detector in his basement went off around 4:30 p.m. He ran to his basement and found that the room was glowing. Nam says that his boiler was on fire. He says he quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and put it out. Minutes later, Nam says he heard a loud boom come from his neighbor’s house and the ground shook. Nam said a woman and two kids had made it out of the house, but the basement was on fire. Residents in several communities that are serviced by Columbia Gas were urged to evacuate. Danger lurks underground from aging gas pipes The three communities that have so far been affected by the leaks house more than 146,000 residents. The Massachusetts State Police said it responded to at least 17 separate reports of fires or explosions and reported "numerous evacuations of neighborhoods where there are gas odors are underway. " Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasque told The Eagle-Tribune that he’s “never seen anything like this.” Lawrence is about 30 miles north of Boston near the New Hampshire state line. Contributing: Associated Press<doc-sep>
There is an affecting scene in the film “White Boy... In this image take from video provided by WCVB in Boston, flames consume a home in Lawrence, Mass., a suburb of Boston, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Dozens of homes burst into flames Thursday after a series of gas explosions rocked three towns outside Boston, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky and forcing mass evacuations. The Massachusetts State Police released a map that showed 70 confirmed fires and reports of gas odor over a few square miles in the towns of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover — and many residents were told to leave their homes immediately. One 18-year-old man was killed when a chimney fell onto his car, the Essex District Attorney’s Office said. A total of 10 people were being treated at Lawrence General Hospital — one in critical condition and one in serious condition. Cases ranged from smoke inhalation to traumatic blast injuries. The state police Thursday night said that their “tally of responses to fires/explosions/investigations of gas odor [was] at 70.” They added: “Residents in the affected towns . . . who have gas service from Columbia Gas should evacuate their homes immediately.” Kimberly Nicollosi of North Andover told the Boston Herald she was a block away from one house when it suddenly exploded into flames. “It just went up, it sounded like we were being bombed,” she told the paper. “The whole house just shook. I grabbed my kid, my dogs and I just left. It’s really scary.” Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon — whose department helped in the response — said the number of fires burning across the Merrimack Valley at around 6:30 p.m. could be as high as 100, according to the Eagle-Tribune. A potential cause for the explosions were “over-pressurized” gas lines in the structures, according to Boston’s WFXT-TV. Officials said Thursday night that the gas lines were being “depressurized” but it would take some time to have that completed. National Grid said they were turning off electricity in all three neighborhoods to assist the “gas situation.” Footage from the area showed firefighters battling flames at multiple locations as they struggled to keep up with the devastation. Smoke could be seen billowing out from the windows of numerous homes. Andover’s official Twitter account ordered people to shut their gas off. “ATTENTION ANDOVER: … Residents and businesses are being advised to evacuate. We will post updates as soon as we have information,” the tweet read.