FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018
Media contact: Jordan Mayblum
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 617-993-0003
Andover Public Safety Officials Provide Update on Gas Emergency
ANDOVER — Town Manager Andrew P. Flanagan, Police Chief Patrick Keefe and Fire Chief Michael B. Mansfield announce that all Andover residents may return to their homes.
Eversource Energy notified town officials that all of the 2,078 gas meters impacted by Thursday’s gas emergency in Andover have now been shut down and cleared.
More than 100 teams of police officers, firefighters and gas technicians worked throughout the night in Andover, and Town Manager Flanagan remained in constant communication with representatives from Eversource and National Grid throughout the process.
National Grid is continuing work to restore power to all residents.
“I want to commend the teams of police officers, firefighters and utility workers who worked diligently to meet this morning’s goal of reopening all homes in town to residents,” Town Manager Flanagan said. “While there is still significant work to be done to bring us back to normalcy, I’m proud of the work done to bring us to this point, and the town is committed to working with residents to ease the transition back into their homes.”
As they return home, residents should NOT attempt to turn their gas back on. Only a gas company technician should restore service to homes and businesses.
Residents who were displaced by this weekend’s incident should make every effort to track the expenses they incurred — including meals, hotel costs, house damage, spoiled food, lost wages or business income and gas service restoration costs — in order to ease the process of collecting reimbursement from Columbia Gas.
More details regarding the claims process for Andover residents will be forthcoming as they become available.
The Andover Senior Center will remain open through dinner time Sunday.
Additional information about this week’s trash collection, as well as school tomorrow, will be announced as soon as it’s available.
“I want to thank our officers and firefighters, as well as the first responders from around Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire who have been working around the clock since this incident began,” Chief Keefe said. “We’re also extremely appreciative of the members of the Andover community who have shown their support throughout this process.”
“The strong handling of this emergency would not have been possible without the support of our mutual aid partners, who responded in large numbers and have remained with us throughout the last few days,” Chief Mansfield said. “The fire response systems that have been in place for years certainly proved their importance this weekend, and were paramount to minimizing the damage to homes and businesses in our community.”
Updates will continue to be posted on the town’s official website at www.andoverma.gov and on the town’s Facebook and Twitter feeds.
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