NFPA Journal - July/August 2019 - 34

HELPING HAND
Massachusetts Army National Guard members load
hot plates to be distributed to Merrimack Valley
residents the week after a gas disruption displaced
thousands and left many more residents without gas
service for cooking or heating.

Massachusetts Army National Guard,
as part of the state's relief effort,
distributed thousands of electric hot
plates and space heaters to residents
without gas service-though this effort
came with snags of its own. Inspectors
found that many homes had outdated
or underpowered electrical systems
that could not safely handle the load
required by space heaters, and far
fewer were distributed than planned.
"If [inspectors] don't feel it's safe, we
don't give them a space heater,'' Moriarty told The Boston Globe. "We don't
want to make things worse.''
Irate residents threatened to use
kerosene space heaters instead, which
are illegal in Massachusetts but are
sold in neighboring states. The state
fire marshal's office responded with a
public reminder that kerosene space
heaters are not allowed, and issued
a tip sheet on hot plate and space
heater safety.
Organizers of the relief effort,
including the gas utility, were forced
to get creative to meet the needs of
the affected citizenry. To preserve local
hotel rooms for use by displaced residents, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts
arranged for a cruise ship to anchor
in Boston Harbor to house hundreds
of utility workers brought in from

34 | NFPA JOURNAL * J U L Y /A U G U S T 2 0 1 9

throughout the northeast US to complete the work. At Thanksgiving, the
gas utility organized more than 25,000
meals that were served to displaced
residents and to those who did not
have gas for cooking.
Despite the gesture of goodwill,
Columbia Gas has been widely and
publicly excoriated for steps it took
leading up to the disaster, and for its
slow-footed handling of the event once
it struck. The state's governor, Charlie
Baker, was so angered by the Columbia Gas response that he declared a
state of emergency the day after the
first fires broke out, and put another
utility, Eversource, in charge. Three
weeks after the incident, following
a review of internal Columbia Gas
documents, Massachusetts Sens. Ed
Markey and Elizabeth Warren issued
a statement saying the utility did not
"properly contemplate the possibility
that a disaster like this could occur,
did not have sufficient safety measures
in place to prevent a disaster, and was
not prepared to respond.''
State fines for Columbia Gas pipeline violations may total $100 million.
According to published reports,
Columbia Gas has received more
than 23,000 claims related to the gas
explosions and fires, and in May the

utility announced it
had reached an $80
million settlement with
Lawrence, Andover, and
North Andover that will
allow the communities
to make remaining
repairs. Much of the
restoration work had
been completed by
the end of 2018, with
remaining work consisting of replacing
heating units in several hundred homes
following the 2018-19
heating season, as well
as repaving roads dug
up as part of the pipe
replacement work. Estimates of the total cost
of the event approach
$1 billion.
While the scope
and impact of the Merrimack Valley
incident pales next to megaevents
such as major wildfires, its complexity and unusual dynamics presented
responders with a set of unique challenges. It's not difficult to imagine
what might have happened had the
three towns not communicated and
instead gone off on their own, without implementing the ICS. A freelance
approach could have resulted in
duplication of mutual aid requests,
unavailable resources, overwhelmed
communication systems, and equally
overwhelmed incident commanders
and local officials. Had a statewide
mobilization plan not existed, the
response could have taken on Wild
West aspects; resources self-dispatching could have resulted in an
all-or-nothing availability, with most
arriving at the onset and few available later in the incident. Having
structured plans in place, locally and
at the state level, made the response
to this incident much more efficient,
easing the burden on local responders and government officials-and,
ultimately, on the residents of the
Merrimack Valley.
ROBERT DUVAL is northeast regional director and a
fire investigator at NFPA.

GETT Y IMAGES

BIG ASSIST
NFPA Journal - July/August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2019
