For Returning Gas Explosion Victims, Home Isn't Always Sweet

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — Shannon Buckley had finally settled into her new normal following the Sept. 13 gas explosions that forced her to move into temporary housing provided by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts. After being confirmed at three different hotels, she was finally allowed to move into the DoubleTree in Manchester, NH last month. Yes, it was farther away than she would have liked as she conducted a job search and checked in on her father, who was hospitalized in Boston, but she knew where her base of operations would be until Columbia Gas said she could return home.

That call came on Saturday, and the utility's adjuster told Buckley she had 48 hours to pack up and check out of the hotel. When Buckley got to her North Andover home, however, she found that she only had heat and hot water. All of her appliances had been ripped out and had not been replaced, meaning she could not cook or do laundry. Her cable connection had been knocked out, leaving her and her fiancee with no phone, Internet or television. Mice had worked their way through the holes in the walls where the appliances had been, leaving droppings everywhere.

"I feel pushed aside and neglected by them. I’m in a financial crisis and this made it that much worse," said Buckley, who has been out of work since before the gas explosions that killed an 18-year-old Lawrence man, damaged or destroyed 131 buildings in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover and left thousands without gas service.

For more than a month, Columbia Gas has released daily updates showing its progress to relight the 7,500 meters as it faces a December 16 deadline; as of Wednesday evening, Columbia said it had restored service to 52 percent of the affected residences and 70 percent of the affected businesses in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence. But interviews with residents who have been cleared to return home suggest problems remain, even after a house has been checked off the utility's to-do list.

Columbia Gas has already pushed the deadline for restoring gas service back by more than a month. On Thursday, the company said it would scrap a plan to give its workers on the restoration effort Thanksgiving off. But with temperatures expected in the teens over the next several nights, some state officials are worried that the utility has already lost the race.

On Wednesday, Gov. Charlie Baker sent out social media messages advising affected residents on how to winterize their houses to prevent frozen pipes, to be weary of the fire hazards posed by temporary heating solutions, and how to request temporary housing from Columbia Gas. As of Wednesday, the utility had place 2,187 families, or a total 7,824 people in temporary housing, but those numbers were expected to jump in coming days as temperatures continued to drop.

For Buckley, her house is now officially classified as "relit," even though Columbia's own guidelines say houses will not be considered relit until appliances are replaced. Her home also does not have the new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors Columbia Gas said it would install. Her request to move back into temporary housing was declined by her adjuster, and she says she can't get answers on who will pay for the damage done when the appliances were ripped out.

"I feel like no one cares," she said. "I’m beyond frustrated and I’m calling city and town officials... who can I contact to be heard?"

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Photo by Mike Carraggi/ Patch Staff

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