LIBERTY, Maine — Two weeks after the deadly fire and explosion at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont, many of the first responders who rushed to the scene are still carrying the physical and emotional effects of the disaster.
While no members of the Liberty Volunteer Fire Department suffered serious injuries, department leaders said the experience left lasting scars that will take time to heal.
Veteran firefighter Bill Gillespie, who has served for more than 30 years, said the response was unlike anything he had experienced before.
Pointing to his turnout gear, Gillespie noted signs of damage from the extreme heat, including melted reflectors and discoloration.
“The call was a difficult call to hear,” Gillespie said. “Everybody that could get there got there.”
Fire departments from across the region, including Belfast, Lincolnville, Appleton, Thorndike, Searsmont, and Liberty, responded to the rapidly growing fire.
For Gillespie, the urgency was personal.
“I knew those people, and I still know those people,” he said. “It was a real driver to get there as quick as I could because they were in trouble.”
Gillespie said his crew was the first to respond to the scene after the explosion that sent a mill silo into the air and injured multiple firefighters who had responded to the initial call about a fire at the mill.
“When we first got on scene, our main attack was just trying to prevent the fire from spreading any further, but the size of the building was quite large and the hazards were quite large,” Gillespie explained, “Buildings were only within 18-20 feet of each other.”
He and other first responders spent hours battling the blaze while helping injured workers reach emergency medical care.
LifeFlight of Maine played a critical role in the response.
“It would take nearly two hours for us to get down to Portland from Searsmont,” LifeFlight of Maine Chief Operating Officer Bill Cyr said. “The helicopters are just so much faster.”
Aboard the two helicopters LifeFlight of Maine deployed, Cyr said multiple crew members worked to stabilize and provide treatment to victims with burn and explosion injuries.
“Our aim is providing care that they would normally receive in an intensive care unit or emergency department, and we continue that care on our way to those tertiary care centers,” Cyr said.
But the scale of the incident has also affected the responders themselves.
“We’ve seen things people aren’t meant to see and dealt with things people are not meant to deal with,” Gillespie said. “It may not affect you today, but a few years down the line it may come creeping back as a memory.”
To help crews recover, Gilespie and Cyr are connecting their firefighters, paramedics, and medical transport crews with free counseling and mental health resources.
“We want to remove all the barriers they may have in place in order to try and get in with a mental health counselor or clinician,” Cyr explained.
And while some scars will never fully heal, Gillespie said he and his fellow first responders will keep supporting each other as the days go by.
“We continue to support each other, because that’s just what we do,” Gillespie said.
Meanwhile, firefighters with the Liberty Fire Department are collecting donations, which will be distributed equally among victims of the explosion and their families by the Waldo County Firefighters’ Association.
According to a statement from the Robbins family, mill owners Alden Robbins and Jim Robbins continue to receive treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
