Watch Seriously Injured Farmington ME Fire Chief Escorted from Hospital Firefighter

FARMINGTON, ME—Good news spread quickly early Tuesday afternoon: Fire Rescue Chief Terry Bell would be released from a Portland hospital and would be escorted home by a parade of first-responder vehicles.

Bell, 63, was critically injured Sept. 16 when LEAP Inc.’s central office at 313 Farmington Falls Road exploded following a propane leak.

His brother, Capt. Michael Bell, 68, was killed in the explosion. Five other firefighters and LEAP’s maintenance supervisor Larry Lord were either seriously or critically injured.

Chief Bell became the town’s first full-time fire chief in 2000. He has been a Farmington firefighter for more than 40 years.

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Bell was released from Maine Medical Center at about 3:30 p.m. The procession to the Farmington Fire Rescue Station is expected to be arriving in Farmington between 5:15 and 6 p.m.

With Bell’s release, it leaves Capt. Scott Baxter, 37, still in the Portland hospital. He was listed in fair condition as of Monday. LEAP maintenance supervisor Larry Lord, 61, of Jay remained in critical condition Tuesday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Other firefighters who were either seriously or critically injured in the explosion: Deputy Chief S. Clyde Ross, 82, Capt. Tim “TD” Hardy, 40, and firefighters Joseph Hastings and Capt. Baxter’s father, Theodore “Ted” Baxter, 64, were previously released from hospitals.

When Capt. Bell’s body was brought back to Farmington on Sept. 17 from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, people lined the streets, many holding small U.S. flags. The University of Maine of Farmington cancelled morning classes and businesses closed for the procession.

When Hardy, Hastings and Ted Baxter came home escorted in separate processions, people also lined the streets to pay respect to them each time one of them came home. Ross was treated and released from a Farmington hospital the day of the explosion.

LEAP, which stands for Life Enrichment Advancing People, provides services for people with intellectual and deelopment disabilities, according to the nonprofit organization.

Fundraisers and donations to help all those affected by the tragedy, including firefighters and their families and the Lord family, 30 people displaced from their residences by the explosion and LEAP have been ongoing.

Red ribbons are hung at downtown businesses, light poles and other places while people have been wearing red ribbons or red clothing on Fridays to get the message “Farmington Strong” across and to await firefighters arroval home.

Those who lost their housing have either found permanent housing or are waiting to find suitable housing but no one is in a hotel.

Lord, after getting nearly a dozen employees out of LEAP’s central office, reported a smell of propane at 8:07 a.m. on Sept. 16. Minutes after firefighters arrived the building exploded. The sound was heard for miles and the debris scattered for some distance.

State fire investigators said in a press release on Sept. 27, they located the leak in the propane line which was buried under the LEAP’s paved parking lot. The line went from an outside propane tank located at the rear of the property, under the parking lot and into the basement of the building. Investigators conducted several tests on the line after the explosion, which revealed a significant leak. Investigators continue to work on what caused that leak. Investigators say the leaked propane permeated the ground under the parking lot and some of that gas then made its way into the basement. Normally propane has a distinctive odor from an additive that is added to the fuel, but investigators think that odor may have been filtered by the soil under the parking lot, according to a news release sent out by Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

State Fire Marshal Joseph E. Thomas previously told the Portland Press Herald that some firefighters smelled propane while others didn’t.

The propane tank had been filled Friday, Sept. 13, with nearly 400 gallons of propane but the tank was empty on Sept. 16, when it was examined by Lord and a second LEAP employee. The propane was used in the building as fuel for the furnace and water heater.

Investigators continue to try and determine how the line was damaged and what sparked the leaked propane in the building that created the explosion, according to McCausland’s releas.e They have conducted more than 100 interviews and continue to work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Farmington police and fire departments and the Maine Solid Fuel Board.

Investigators say Larry Lord was in the basement with Farmington firefighters Capt. Hardy, Joseph Hastings and Capt. Baxter when the explosion took place. Captain Bell was on the first floor, Chief Bell was near the rear door of the building, and Deputy Fire Chief Ross and firefighter Ted Baxter were outside the building in the parking lot.

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