Campus Alert Archive
Merrimack

When the Whole Valley's Gas Lines Blew, a North Andover Campus Emptied at 6 p.m.

MAgas leakemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the afternoon of September 13, 2018, over-pressurized natural-gas lines owned by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts touched off a cascade of fires and explosions across Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, killing 18-year-old Leonel Rondon and forcing roughly 30,000 residents from their homes. Merrimack College, which straddles the North Andover–Andover line at the center of the disaster zone, evacuated its buildings at about 6 p.m. as a precaution against gas in its own service lines.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Merrimack College
Private Masters · MA
~5,400 studentsMerrimack Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction213 chars
MERRIMACK ALERT: Due to a gas emergency in the Merrimack Valley, the College is evacuating all buildings as a precaution. Leave campus buildings now and follow the directions of Public Safety. More info to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed, not verbatim: the web environment cannot retrieve Merrimack College's official alert archive, so this text paraphrases the documented ~6 p.m. precautionary evacuation rather than quoting the exact wording.
Unlike a single-building gas leak, this evacuation was driven by a region-wide distribution-system failure, so the trigger lay in the utility's network rather than anything on campus.
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction377 chars
UPDATE: All Merrimack buildings remain closed while National Grid and Columbia Gas crews work in the area. Gas service has been shut off across Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. Residential students should remain in designated assembly areas; commuters should not return to campus tonight. The College will share decisions about Friday's operations as soon as they are made.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed text; the substantive facts (gas shut off across all three towns, next-day closures) are confirmed by the regional after-action report and contemporaneous coverage.
The reference to both National Grid and Columbia Gas reflects that National Grid crews were brought in to help isolate the over-pressurized Columbia Gas system.
Context

Background

The Merrimack Valley gas explosions of September 13, 2018 were one of the most disruptive natural-gas disasters in U.S. history. Excess pressure in Columbia Gas distribution lines ignited more than 80 fires across Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, killed an 18-year-old, and forced about 30,000 residents to evacuate. Merrimack College sits on the North Andover–Andover boundary in the heart of that zone; the college evacuated its buildings around 6 p.m. as a precaution. The NTSB later found that the cast-iron main had been abandoned before regulator sensing lines were relocated, allowing pressure to spike uncontrolled. A year later, WBUR documented the long recovery, which required replacing roughly 48 miles of pipeline. For a college, the case is unusual: the hazard originated entirely off-campus in a utility's regional network, yet the right Clery response was still an immediate emergency notification and evacuation.
Analysis

Key Findings

The threat to Merrimack College originated entirely in an off-campus utility network, illustrating how regional infrastructure failures can force campus emergency notifications
The college evacuated all buildings around 6 p.m. on September 13, 2018 as a precaution rather than in response to any on-campus gas reading
Schools and state offices across Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover were closed the following day while gas service remained off
The disaster was traced by the NTSB to Columbia Gas abandoning a cast-iron main before relocating regulator sensing lines, allowing the distribution system to over-pressurize
Outcome
No injuries were reported at Merrimack College. The campus and surrounding communities had gas service shut off across the affected towns; schools and state offices in the three communities were closed the following day while Columbia Gas began replacing roughly 48 miles of pipeline.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    Merrimack Valley gas explosions - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
  2. News
    'War Zone:' Evacuations, Gas Explosions In Merrimack Valley - North Andover Patch
    patch.com
  3. News
    Looking Back At The Merrimack Valley Gas Explosions, 1 Year Later - WBUR
    wbur.org
  4. Report
    Overpressurization of Natural Gas Distribution System - NTSB Accident Report PAR-19-02
    ntsb.gov
Tags
gas-leakevacuationmassachusettsmerrimack-valleycolumbia-gasinfrastructureemergency-notification
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion