Another firefighter released from hospital nearly two months after Searsmont explosion

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 3, 2026

It was a quick and quiet affair Friday morning when firefighter Katie Paige left Maine Medical Center. Amid record heat and on the observed Independence Day holiday, Paige, in a wide-brimmed white hat with her hands bandaged, walked out of the hospital’s back door just after 12 p.m. She traveled past a line of first responders and got into a black truck, before being escorted by an eight-vehicle convoy down the Western Promenade. It’s been almost two months since a fire and subsequent explosion in a silo at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont killed three and injured at least 10. Paige, a Belmont firefighter who sustained severe burns when she responded to the incident, was promoted to lieutenant while hospitalized.