We’re fundraising to support the newsroom this spring. But on this page let’s take a break. Here are some efforts raising funds to support victims of the Searsmont fire. We hope you’ll consider a gift to support the families.
One of three members of the Robbins family is on the mend almost a month after the deadly fire and explosion at a Searsmont lumber yard.
Owners Jim Robbins and Alden Robbins and family member Lily Robbins have been hospitalized in the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston since shortly after the disaster last month.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the hospital said that one of the Robbinses has been upgraded to serious condition, while the other two are still listed as critical. He did not specify whose condition was improving.
A fire broke out about 10:05 a.m. on May 15 at the Robbins Lumber campus off Route 131 in an area where wood shavings are packed in plastic bags. That blaze then spread to a silo filled with sawdust that exploded about 11 a.m. as firefighters stood nearby.
That prompted nearly two dozen fire departments to scramble to the scene as crews tried to contain the blaze and tended to the nearly dozen wounded.
The blast killed 27-year-old Morrill volunteer firefighter Andrew Cross, who was laid to rest on May 22. Several people remain hospitalized.
A joint federal-state investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire and explosion. It was hampered in the days immediately after the blast because of high winds.
Investigators have said the silo exploded before the fire suppression system could be triggered. The blast lifted the silo off its concrete base. Investigators will return to the yard in the coming months.
Robbins Lumber resumed operations at the mill on May 26.