By Evan Lips
The Lowell Sun
TEWKSBURY, Mass. — A little more than 40 years later, two local fire departments remember the teamwork and bravery that took place on Feb. 9, 1972, when an 8,500-pound fuel truck backed into a gas-feed pipe at the Lowell Gas Co.'s Chapman Road plant.
The nighttime explosion killed three people and wounded 23 others.
Tomorrow morning, members of the Tewksbury and Billerica fire departments will fill the Oblate Novitiate House for a Catholic Mass that will honor the memory of those who died.
Billerica Deputy Chief Tom Ferraro said the Rev. Eugene Tully, Billerica’s fire chaplain, will lead the service with the Rev. Jim Flavin of the Oblate Novitiate.
Ferraro said the public is encouraged to attend the service, which begins at 10 a.m.
The men who died include Tewksbury firefighter William John McAllister, propane truck driver Arthur Sutliff and Billerica fire Capt. Donald Schultz.
Nearly a year later, Tewksbury fire Capt. Frederick Millett died of complications resulting from injuries suffered during the explosion.
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