Woburn Mayor Urges National Grid To End Lockout

WOBURN, MA -- National Grid said it has restored gas service to all but 12 of the homes that had their gas turned off on Monday. The update at 10 am Thursday said technicians had visited all of the 300 homes that were affected, and that the residents at the 12 homes where service was not restored were not home when technicians arrived.

National Grid said technicians would "promptly" return to those houses once the residents called the number left on door hangers at each house. National Grid will keep its community van parked at 677 Main Street Thursday to continue fielding questions from Woburn residents.

Separately on Thursday, Mayor Scott Galvin told WBZ that the utility should end its lockout of about 1,200 employees in Massachusetts. The lockout is now in its fourth month.

National Grid cut service to the homes Monday after a worker inadvertently increased pressure in the gas line that serves those homes. Over-pressurization is believed to have been the cause of last month's gas explosions in Andover, Lawrence and North Andover that damaged or destroyed more than 70 homes, injured more than 25 people and left an 18-year-old Lawrence man dead.

There were no reports of injuries or damages after Monday's incident in Woburn, which came during routine maintenance of the line. National Grid began reconnecting homes and businesses on Wednesday morning.

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Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

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