On Sept. 13, 2018, at 4:04 p.m., an alarm sounded at a natural gas monitoring center in Columbus, Ohio. High-pressured natural gas had just been released into a low-pressure gas line in Massachusetts’ Merrimack Valley. Soon, buildings in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover would explode and catch fire. Thousands of people would be ordered to flee their homes and seek safety on the streets. GBH Reporters were there to collect their stories and get answers to the questions on everyone’s mind: How did this happen? And, could it happen again?
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On Sept. 13, 2018, at 4:04 p.m., an alarm sounded at a natural gas monitoring center in Columbus, Ohio. High-pressured natural gas had just been released into a low-pressure gas line in Massachusetts’ Merrimack Valley. Soon, buildings in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover would explode and catch fire. Thousands of people would be ordered to flee their homes and seek safety on the streets. GBH Reporters were there to collect their stories and get answers to the questions on everyone’s mind: How did this happen? And, could it happen again?
The natural gas company has a plan to return service to the nearly 8,000 homes and businesses without heat and hot water, but it will take months and require digging up miles of streets. Meanwhile, displaced residents calculate their losses and look for Columbia Gas to make the region whole again.
Fire In The Valley
On Sept. 13, 2018, at 4:04 p.m., an alarm sounded at a natural gas monitoring center in Columbus, Ohio. High-pressured natural gas had just been released into a low-pressure gas line in Massachusetts’ Merrimack Valley. Soon, buildings in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover would explode and catch fire. Thousands of people would be ordered to flee their homes and seek safety on the streets. GBH Reporters were there to collect their stories and get answers to the questions on everyone’s mind: How did this happen? And, could it happen again?
