A few months ago, I moved to Lawrence, MA. Lawrence is one of the poorest cities in the country. It was a thriving mill town from the 1860s to 1950s, but when the textile industry headed overseas, the city took a turn for the worse. Twenty–one percent of families currently live at or below the poverty level. Although the city is better now that it was in the 1970s and 1980s, it still has a long way to go.

I got a call this afternoon telling me that there has now been a huge fire in Lawrence. About 2:30 am a fire broke out in a building that was being renovated to be a night club. The fire spread quickly in frigid winds. Fourteen different fire companies rushed to the scene, but the cold conditions hampered their efforts. By the time the blaze was over, between nine and sixteen buildings had been destroyed (estimates vary in the news reports) and 150–200 people had been left homeless. Three of the building destroyed were homes that Habitat for Humanity was building, and another was an Arc community for the mentally handicapped. The night club owner had done about $300,000 in renovation, but did not have insurance on the building.

Fortunately, only one person was injured in the blaze and there were no fatalities.

Due to the number of empty buildings in Lawrence, it has had a high arson rate for many years. Investigators suspect arson may have been involved in this case as well.

It would be hard for most cities to recover from a fire this size, but for a city as poor as Lawrence it will be even more difficult. Many of the people displaced were struggling to get by before they lost everything, and the city’s shelters were already overflowing because of the cold temperature. Please keep Lawrence in your prayers as they try to make their way through this tragedy.

For news stories covering the fire, you can read Boston.com or the Eagle Tribune (our local newspaper).

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