This is playing nonstop on all local news channels in the Boston area, and the footage is terrifying. One house just blew up, and then residents across a wide area said they heard hissing in their home and fires broke out in 70 of them. A news helicopter circled one of them for 40 minutes before firefighters could reach it, there were just too many other fires and not enough local resources. One of the towns (Andover or North Andover) had 38 fires in all, including 18 burning at one time.
They have a good "mutual aid" system here and fire apparatus from the neighboring communities including New Hampshire and all over the Boston area eventually flooded in to these three cities (Lawrence, Andover, North Andover) to help.
Someone mentioned there have been incidents like this before in Lexington, Mass. The news also mentioned another incident in Danvers more than 10 years ago but that wasn't natural gas, it was improperly stored chemicals: http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/local/danvers_explos...
ETA: An 18 year old died - he was sitting in a car in a driveway next to the house that exploded, and a chimney fell on the vehicle.
They have a good "mutual aid" system here and fire apparatus from the neighboring communities including New Hampshire and all over the Boston area eventually flooded in to these three cities (Lawrence, Andover, North Andover) to help.
Someone mentioned there have been incidents like this before in Lexington, Mass. The news also mentioned another incident in Danvers more than 10 years ago but that wasn't natural gas, it was improperly stored chemicals: http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/local/danvers_explos...
ETA: An 18 year old died - he was sitting in a car in a driveway next to the house that exploded, and a chimney fell on the vehicle.