Firefighters were fired on Thursday afternoon (13) in the Lawrence area of the US state of Massachusetts after blasts and fires hit dozens of homes in the area.
Lawrence General Hospital announced that it had received six people affected by the fires, including two in critical condition.
State police reported that at one point it was responding to fire, explosion and investigation simultaneously at 70 different addresses in the cities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, but warned that this number would certainly increase.
Methuen fire chief Joseph Solomon, whose department is assisting in the response, told the Boston Globe newspaper that there had been more than 60 fires and explosions in the three communities.
Several reports on social networks show images of flaming or damaged structures, and residents say that firefighters are no longer able to attend to all calls. Firefighters and police from neighboring towns have moved to the sites to help contain the fires and guide the population in evacuating homes.
Massachusetts state police posted a map on Twitter that reported points with confirmed explosions and / or fires (see below) in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover.
Reporters at ABC's station said that every day new reports on other outbreaks of fire come and that police are already talking in 60 to 100 burning places.
At around 7:20 am, Andover officials said they had already extinguished 35 outbreaks of fire, according to the Boston Globe.
