Investigator: No evidence gas explosions intentional

Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Mass.

There’s no evidence to suggest the gas explosions that rocked communities north of Boston were intentional, a federal investigator said Saturday.

As federal officials opened their investigation into Thursday’s disaster, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said there doesn’t appear to be “anything nefarious, anything suspicious, anything intentional.”

He said investigators will be working to develop a time line going back at least three weeks, including reviewing any reports of gas odors reported by residents in the impacted communities of Lawrence, North Andover and Andover.

Investigators also will look at how local Columbia Gas officials responded to a “pressure increase” in the Lawrence area that was detected at the company’s pipeline control center in Columbus, Ohio, before the explosions and fires.

“We’re very interested to understand the operations of Columbia Gas,” he said.

Sumwalt said NTSB investigators expect to be on site up to 10 days, but a final report about what happened could take up to two years to complete.

The dramatic series of explosions and fires Thursday destroyed or damaged dozens of homes, killed a teenager, injured dozens and forced thousands of people to evacuate from the three Merrimack Valley communities.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency for the area and put Eversource Energy, another utility, in charge of recovery efforts after state and local officials said they were unsatisfied with Columbia Gas’ response.

Company president Stephen Bryant defended his company’s performance Friday, saying it had more than 300 workers and contractors responding, with another 100 on the way.