Gas explosions tore through three nearby Boston communities Thursday afternoon, setting multiple homes ablaze, killing one person and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

Leonel Rondon, 18, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, died when a chimney fell on the car in which he was sitting, said the Essex County District Attorney’s Office.

Several people were taken to local hospitals, including one person who was reported in critical condition at Lawrence General.

The explosions and fires broke out around 4:30 p.m. Eastern, and quickly erupted almost randomly across homes and apartment buildings in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence. Some 150,000 residents live in the communities, located 25 miles north of Boston.

“It looked like Armageddon,” said Fire Chief Mike Mansfield of Andover. “It  looked like an absolute war zone.”

Columbia Gas Company, which serves 51,000 homes in the communities, urged residents to shut off their gas and flee their homes. Electricity was cut off to the affected neighborhoods.

The cause of the disaster was under investigation, but the gas company had been replacing aged pipes in the communities and some officials attributed the problem to leaky lines. Residents reported the pungent smell of natural gas.  

The FBI’s Boston Office issued a statement saying “there are no indications this incident is related to terrorism.”

Safety officials said they hope to clear the communities of any further danger as soon as possible so residents whose homes were not destroyed could return to them. Shelters were set up at schools, senior centers and other buildings. Public schools were ordered closed Friday.

In Lawrence, a city of 80,000 mostly Hispanic residents, several homes and apartment buildings burned unattended as there weren’t enough firefighters to respond to each explosion and fire.

“We’re very upset,” said a woman on Lawrence’s Chickering Road, her home a shambles.. “It’s pretty frightening to see your house explode.”

Cameron Couillard, who works at the nearby Shawsheen Plaza, said everyone there “felt the shake” when the explosions went occurred.

Kristina Fabiano of Andover said she walked into her apartment building around 4 p.m. and smelled gas, called her husband to tell him, heard the fire alarm go off in the basement and called 911. The building soon went up in flames.

She said the fire was smoky at first and then bright orange flames could be seen inside through the front door and windows. Eleven people lived in the apartment complex.

“This is so terrible,” she said, as she stood by with her husband, both crying.

Plumes of black smoke and orange flames filled the sky until nightfall, causing massive traffic jams on nearby interstate highways clogged with commuters heading home and local streets with residents fleeing the danger

Scores of first responders and fire equipment from nearby cities and towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire were on the scene to assist with putting down the fires and helping distressed residents.

Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasque said he had “never seen anything like this.”