Andrew W. Maylor traded a job in Swampscott for one in North Andover in 2011 and, last Thursday, traded the relative anonymity of small town government to stand by Gov. Charlie Baker in the glare of television camera lights.
Maylor is town manager in one of three communities hit hard by the natural gas explosions and resulting fires that killed a Lawrence teenager and continue to leave 1,500 North Andover residents without gas in their homes.
“Those folks are in a holding pattern and 80 percent to 100 percent of our time for the next few weeks will be spent on helping them,” Maylor said.
Maylor’s first inkling of last Thursday’s gas disaster that also struck Lawrence and Andover came as he walked past a North Andover mall and heard an alarm sounding but no sirens indicating public safety workers were responding.
“Right away, it didn’t feel right,” he said.
Little did he know at the time but all available town fire crews aided by police officers were rushing to multiple reports of explosions and fires in North Andover. Town Police Chief Charles Gray pulled over just long enough to tell Maylor he was receiving reports of multiple fires.