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News September 17, 2018

Gemline Reopens After Explosion Scare

The Top 40 supplier’s facility and employees are in good shape, and the company is again fully operational.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070) has reopened its facility after being forced to close late last week following a series of gas-related explosions that rocked the company’s town of Lawrence, MA and the neighboring Bay State communities of Andover and North Andover.

Early Monday, Gemline’s Saadia Bryant told Counselor that the supplier is fully operational. “We reopened on Saturday to begin catching up on orders,” Bryant said. “All departments are now running normally. If a customer’s order was impacted, we will contact them directly.”

Gemline’s facility was not damaged by the explosions or the scores of subsequent fires they caused to rip through the Massachusetts’ towns. Nonetheless, state and local authorities closed the area to businesses and residents late Thursday and Friday – a restriction that is being lifted after safety checks.

Gemline’s employees are okay, Bryant said. “Thankfully, our workforce is all safe,” she told Counselor.

Tragically, that couldn’t be said of everyone in Lawrence. Leonel Rondon, 18, died after a chimney collapsed onto the car in which he was sitting. The chimney fell after a home exploded.

Authorities have not officially declared a cause of the explosions. Still, investigations have focused on gas lines operated by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, an entity that’s part of the utility company NiSource. Authorities have said that it’s possible that over-pressurized gas lines could be behind the eruptions, which sent fires blazing through some local homes.

“It’s heartbreaking to see this devastation and this tragedy,” Joe Hamrock, NiSource CEO, said at a Sunday news conference.