Merrimack Valley Trailers Heading To California

LAWRENCE, MA -- Columbia Gas of Massachusetts is 92 percent complete in its months-long effort to restore gas service to the 7,505 customers in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover who have been without heat and hot water since the Sept. 13 gas explosions. With just 884 meters left to relight and seasonable weather forecast for the next few days, the utility is expecting hundreds of people to move out of temporary housing over the next few days.

And that means the 370 RVs that were placed in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover will be packed up and moved on. The effort to remove trailers started on Thursday in Lawrence, where Mayor Dan Rivera told the Eagle-Tribune some RVs would be taken to California to provide temporary housing to people who lost their homes in this month's wildfires.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 1,564 people living in the temporary trailers, down from 1,622 a week ago. There were also 6,215 people living in hotels and 230 living in apartments, according to Columbia's daily update on the restoration effort.

The explosions on Sept. 13 damaged or destroyed more than 130 homes and killed an 18-year-old Lawrence man. Thousands of people in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence have been without gas service since the explosions. Columbia Gas says it is still on pace to meet a Dec. 16 deadline to restore service to all the affected customers.

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Photo of one of the 370 trailers leased by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts. Photo by Town of North Andover.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).