Searsmont Fire Chief James Ames was among the first to respond to what became a fatal inferno at the Robbins Lumber mill on Friday.
Ames and other local firefighters were battling a fire in a silo containing wood shavings when it violently exploded, throwing Ames through the air and, as authorities later confirmed, killing at least one firefighter, Andrew Cross, 27, of Morrill.
Not much later, Midcoast Villager reporter Dan Dunkle arrived at the scene and found Ames — shaken and covered in ash and debris — catching his breath in his daughter’s truck.
In a brief, vivid interview, Ames described the explosion and how the fire progressed.
The Villager has lightly edited the audio to isolate the conversation, though an unrelated call to a car dealership can be heard amid the chaotic scene.
“We think what happened is a bearing in the gearbox got too hot and started the shavings on fire,” Ames said of the silo’s contents.
“Of course, trying to put it out, what happens is you get too much air in there, you get like a backdraft. It just friggin’ blew that silo, tipped it over. It blew me 15 feet right through the air.”
“Some guys dragged me out. And I have no idea who’s hurt or anything about it. I know there’s ambulances and everything coming and going,” he said.
“The silo fell over onto the building that’s burning right now, and thank God it did because I was right underneath it,” he said.
As the fire continued to rage, Ames’ daughter, a safety coordinator at the mill, put her father in her truck and told him not to move.
“She won’t let me out of her sight,” he said with a laugh.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.