One week after gas fires and explosions rocked the Merrimack Valley, first responders and residents in three Massachusetts communities are telling their stories about what they experienced. Meanwhile, some residents learned Thursday that their gas service may not be restored for several months.
Emergency crews were trying to help as many people as possible. At the Andover Police Department, the 911 calls started coming in late Thursday afternoon as dispatchers Katie Ramos and Melissa Kurkjian were about to leave for the day. First, they got a call about a fire at a restaurant and then a call for a house fire, which they said was unusual for Andover. When the calls did not stop after that, they knew something was wrong.
“I just remember looking around the room at one point and seeing every single phone we had light up and we had no idea why this was happening or what to tell the town besides to leave,” Ramos said.
Ramos and Kurkjian said the toughest part was figuring out which resources to send where when the need seemed to be everywhere.