Firefighters responded to a fire involving a hot plate in Andover, just two days after the National Guard handed them out to residents with no gas after the Merrimack Valley explosions.
The damage was minimal and no one was hurt in the incident, but one family was left scared as they attempted to get their lives back to normal.
It was the first time Kathy Pappadapolous used her new hot plate, which she picked up from Andover Town Hall on Saturday as part of a plan from Columbia Gas to help customers left without a way to cook with the lack of gas.
"Right when I went to take it off, it was flames everywhere," Pappadapolous said.
The actual hot plate didn't catch fire, with the pan instead going up in flames as Pappadapolous tried to fry eggs.
"I didn't know what to do," Pappadapolous said. "I was literally holding a pan on fire, so I was going to the sink. The cabinets are all black and I didn’t know what to do, so I ran outside with a pan of fire, literally it was in flames.”
She said the hot plate was barely heating up at first, but then suddenly became too hot.
The fire was put out before the fire department arrived.
“I thought our house was going to burn down because it was pretty high," Dino Pappadapolous said.
Columbia Gas is working to replace nearly 40 miles of gas line in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence after the deadly explosions earlier this months.
As the work continues, gas must remain off for about 8,600 homes customers, and they don't expect to be able to fully restore service until November 19.
>>MORE: Residents starting to consider alternatives to gas in Merrimack Valley
Cooking on hot plates isn't the only adjustment these families are making until that date.
"Sometimes I take cold showers, and sometimes I boil water and mix it with the cold water to make it warmer," Lawrence resident Dalvin Suazo Lare said.
Suazo Lare said he and his dad have been working to keep their family market going, which was shut down for five days as the explosions caused them to lose all their perishable food.
Now, the construction has posed another challenge.
"I don't have no business, it's very slow," Luis Suazo said.
Columbia Gas has pledged to reimburse customers and businesses for all their losses connected to the explosions, and will also pay anyone who wishes to switch to another fuel source entirely.