Maintenance Worker Who Helped Evacuate Farmington Building Before Explosion Still In Hospital

Maine Public | By Ed Morin

Published October 16, 2019 at 5:34 PM EDT

Mass General in Boston says the condition of Larry Lord, the last remaining person hospitalized after last month's gas explosion in Farmington, has been upgraded from critical to serious.

Lord is the maintenance worker at the LEAP Inc. building who's credited with smelling the gas, evacuating the building and calling the fire department.

The propane explosion destroyed the building. Six firefighters were also hospitalized. Captain Scott Baxter, the last of the firefighters hospitalized after the blast, was released from the hospital on Sunday and discharged to a rehabilitation facility. Another firefighter, 68-year-old Capt. Michael Bell, was killed.

Maine

Ed Morin

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.

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