Searsmont’s assistant fire chief Wayne Woodbury was remembered Wednesday as a humble leader, a generous friend, and a man who served his community selflessly at his funeral in Belfast.
Woodbury, 76, died on June 14 at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland from injuries he suffered in the May 15 fire and explosion at the Robbins Lumber mill in Searsmont.
Woodbury was the second firefighter to die after the Searsmont blaze and explosion, which was one of the worst industrial accidents in Maine’s recent history. Andrew Cross, a 27-year-old firefighter from Morrill, died at the scene. The two men were friends and enjoyed fishing together.
At least 10 other first responders and mill workers from Searsmont and nearby communities were injured in the blast, including three members of the Robbins family that owns the mill.
On Wednesday, as the vehicle carrying Woodbury’s remains approached the Belfast Area High School for the funeral, it passed beneath a large American flag suspended between the ladders of firetrucks from Belfast and Liberty. Dozens of firefighters, forest rangers and members of the State Fire Marshal’s office saluted as a procession of police and fire vehicles escorted Woodbury’s remains to the high school, forming a “sea of blue” in tribute.
Searsmont Fire Chief James Ames, a close friend of Woodbury’s, carried an urn containing his remains to the front of the high school gymnasium where it was placed alongside a fire helmet and a folded American flag.
Speaking during what was an emotional service, Joselyn Staples, a member of the Searsmont Fire Department and friend of Woodbury’s, said that Woodbury enriched her life. He loved to swap recipes and play cribbage and lived for ice fishing, she said.
Woodbury shared freely with friends and neighbors, she said, whether it was apples and pears from his orchard, venison he had hunted or salmon he caught. He made bluebird house kits for her grandchildren to paint. “Whenever we see a bluebird we will think of you,” she said.
“You are remembered and you are loved,” Staples said.
Searsmont Select Board member Christopher Staples said Woodbury wasn’t the sort to seek attention. “In fact, he probably would be a little uncomfortable to see all of us gathered here,” he said, gesturing at the hundreds of people in the high school gym.
Woodbury was a quiet teacher who spent decades mentoring younger firefighters, he said.
“Wayne taught by example,” Staples said. “His patience, wisdom and calm presence helped shape generations of firefighters.”
“Communities like ours are not protected by fire trucks alone,” he said. “They’re protected by people willing to answer the call, often without recognition or reward.”
Two members of Searsmont’s fire department played a song on guitar and violin.
Tom Wolf, a member of the Searsmont Fire Department and mill employee who was badly burned in the fire, rang a large silver bell as part of the firefighters’ “last alarm” tradition, which honors firefighters for sacrificing their lives and signals that their duties have been fulfilled. Wolf spent weeks in the burn unit at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center and still wore bandages on his head.
Woodbury, a Belmont resident, was a firefighter for more than 60 years, serving both Searsmont and Belmont, a fire department that his father helped to start. He worked at Bath Iron Works after graduating from Belfast Area High School in 1968, where he was a member of the BIW fire brigade, according to his obituary.
Woodbury was married to his wife, Rosie, for 50 years until her death in 2018. She was a dispatcher for the Belmont fire department, according to her obituary.
An active outdoorsman, Woodbury had a deep appreciation for nature and two mischievous cats, his obituary said. Each morning visited Ames Farm Equipment in Searsmont to have morning coffee and sweets with Ames, who was also injured in the fire but released after a few days.
The three members of the Robbins remain hospitalized at Mass General Hospital in Boston. At least two other victims of the fire are still hospitalized at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center, though the hospital declined to give a specific count, citing privacy concerns.
The first responders and mill workers were injured after dust inside a silo storing wood shavings caught fire and exploded before its fire-suppression system could activate, according to the state fire marshal’s office.
The Robbins family started its first sawmill in Searsmont nearly 150 years ago and has grown to be one of the region’s primary producers of eastern white pine products and a central player in the town’s economic and community life.