Maine’s lumber mills, like the one in Searsmont, have known fire risks

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 20, 2026

Fires and explosions have long been threats to Maine’s lumber and paper mills. In April 2020, a pulp digester exploded at the Androscoggin Mill in Jay, sending smoke and debris more than 100 feet into the air. At Irving Forest Products in Dixfield, an explosion and fire in May 2021 damaged a machine used to move wood chips, and a fire last November caused serious damage to the sawmill building. “The fuel load at a lumber mill is exceedingly high,” said James Graves, director of the Maine Fire Service Institute. “They happen regularly.” But Graves said relatively few are as tragic as the fiery explosion at Robbins Lumber Inc. in Searsmont that injured 12 people and killed Andrew Cross, 27, a member of the Morrill Volunteer Fire Department. Eight were still hospitalized Tuesday.