Officials Begin Dismantling North Andover RV Site

NORTH ANDOVER, MA -- Officials began removing 60 trailers from Grogan's Field in North Andover Monday. The RVs had been leased by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and used as temporary housing for people who were displaced following the Sept. 13 gas explosions.

As of Sunday, there were three people living in the trailers in North Andover. At it peak, Grogan's Field house more than 30 families. Officials say gas service has been restored to 95 percent of the residents and businesses in Andover and North Andover that had been without heat or hot water since the explosions.

Las week officials started removing some of the 370 RVs that had been set up in Lawrence. Officials said some of those trailers were headed to California to house people who had lost their homes to last month's wildfires.

As of Sunday, there were no people living in trailers in Andover and 192 living in RVs in Lawrence. Columbia Gas also had 1,243 people living in hotel rooms it has leased in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

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 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).