The Lowell Sun
LAWRENCE, Mass. — Crippling budget cuts left just 15 Lawrence firefighters battling two fires Sunday at the former Merrimac Paper Mill forcing that city to request help from 14 other communities straining mutual aid.
By 10 a.m. on Sunday, the mill fire hit three alarms and firefighters were called in from Andover, North Andover, Methuen, Haverhill, Dracut, Lowell, Amesbury, Ipswich, Danvers, Middleton, North Reading and Salem, N.H.
At 3:30 p.m., firefighters returned to the former mill for a fire in a separate building on the property. That fire hit four alarms bringing back the firefighters from the 12 communities that responded earlier in the day along with Tewksbury and Georgetown.
The Lawrence Fire Department laid off 23 firefighters on July 1 due to citywide budget cuts.
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