Up from the rubble

Six months after explosion, Danvers neighborhood builds anew

DANVERS -- Six months after a fiery explosion ripped apart Danversport, a new neighborhood is rising. Homes have been knocked flat. Modular houses have been dropped into place from cranes. Buzzing saws and banging hammers echo across two narrow side streets, joined like a horseshoe.

"There's new music in the neighborhood," said Barbara Lynch, 55, standing on her porch on Riverside Street. "The hammering, the sawing, the diggers, the dumpers. That's what my grandson calls them, diggers and dumpers. I hear them beep when they back up, and I think, 'Oh, is something happening?' "

Eleven new homes are going up. Two more modular homes are due May 30. Sixteen homes have been demolished on Bates and Riverside streets, the area that sustained the most damage. A gas station is being rebuilt on Water Street. New glass-and-brick fronts have been put on other businesses heavily damaged by the Nov. 22 chemical explosion at CAI Inc., an ink-and-paint factory at 126 Water St. Since January, at least $3 million in new construction projects has been permitted by the town, records show.

"There's a hustle of activity down there," said Town Manager Wayne P. Marquis. "It's almost like a subdivision of new homes."

Rebuilding Danversport is neither cheap nor easy. Marquis had hoped that most residents would be back home now. At least 100 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed in the predawn explosion in this neighborhood. But only 39 households have returned; about 29 houses are still vacant, their windows boarded up, as owners grapple with the future.

"It's taken longer for some people than others," Marquis said. "Insurance settlements are a factor, but so are personal decisions. Families have to decide what to do."

Tomorrow, Town Meeting voters will be asked to approve $300,000 to cover overtime costs for fire, police, inspectors, and other town employees who worked almost round-the-clock in the aftermath of the explosion. In January, Town Meeting approved a separate $300,000 payment to cover overtime costs.

Marquis said the town still hopes to get some state funding to recoup costs. Danvers also hopes to get money to improve sidewalks and streets and add trees to the neighborhood. "We'd like to help these folks with the rebirth of that neighborhood," he said.

The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said the explosion caused more damage than any other blast it has investigated in its nine-year history. While homes on Riverside and Bates streets sustained the heaviest damage, the blast also blew out windows, doors, and walls on several surrounding streets, and across the Waters, Crane, and Danvers rivers.

The panel's preliminary findings, released May 9, said the explosion was probably caused by a buildup of chemical vapors that ignited from an unknown source. The findings mirror those the state fire marshal's office released May 7.

Recovery also will change the character of one of the town's oldest neighborhoods. Bungalows, Capes, and ranch-style houses lined the streets. The 16 homes torn down so far include a cedar-shingled Cape and a Craftsman-style home built in 1910.

In some cases, residents have opted for prefabricated homes.

"It was the best deal," said Karen Savini, who is putting up a three-family modular at 7 Bates St., estimated to cost $300,000. "They're fast, and they're very good... We need to get the house back up."

Savini and her husband, Frank, lost two houses in the explosion. While they received an insurance settlement for their Bates Street rental property, which abutted the factory and was destroyed, they're in limbo about their home on Riverside Street.

"We're hoping that we don't have to take any money out of our pocket to rebuild," said Savini, 53, clearing out the gray -shingled Victorian cottage on Riverside Street. "We have to gut the house, so that the insurance company can see what the structural damage is. Then, from there, they'll make a decision about taking it down."

In recent years, the Savinis had renovated that house, which they've owned for 13 years. New windows, floors, and a marble bathroom were among the improvements. Rebuilding from scratch now seems overwhelming, said Frank Savini, 55, who runs a canteen truck in Boston.

"It kills me," he said. "We had already gutted the house... I don't know if I have another house in me."

Other folks found it hard to watch a wrecking ball hit their family home. "It had a lot of memories in it," said Jim Glavin, 71, a widower who lives with two of his four grown children in a bungalow on Riverside Street. "My wife and I raised four kids there."

Glavin owned the house for 46 years. Now he's putting up a Colonial-style modular home with a two-car garage. He owned two lots, so he's combined the parcels. "It's a lot bigger," said Glavin, pointing to the newly poured foundation. "I'm looking forward to getting back, but I don't look forward to all the work it's going to take."

Alan and Andrea Farrell already have been down that road. They recently moved into a two-story Colonial, the first new house completed in the neighborhood. "We have so much to unpack still," said Andrea Farrell, 62, standing in a new garage filled with boxes, dressers, and headboards. "It's a lot of work."

The Farrells lived in their old Cape-style house for 22 years. On the night of the blast, the windows shattered, the roof fell, and walls crumbled. The couple rented an apartment while their new house was built. They're happy to be back home.

"It was a very long winter," said Farrell, accompanied by Willie, a Siberian husky.

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.