Final Firefighter Injured in Fatal ME Blast Goes Home

Capt. Scott Baxter, one of the firefighters injured in the September explosion that destroyed the LEAP Inc. building in Farmington, was released from Maine Medical Center on Sunday.

The Portland hospital said in a statement Sunday afternoon that Baxter was treated and discharged to a rehabilitation facility.

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Baxter was the last Farmington firefighter to be released from Maine Med. A total of six firefighters were hospitalized and a seventh, 68-year-old Capt. Michael Bell, was killed in the explosion. His brother, Farmington Fire Chief Terry Bell, was released from the hospital Tuesday.

The eighth person who was injured, LEAP maintenance manager Larry Lord, is being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he is expected to remain for several months. Lord has been credited with evacuating employees from the building, preventing further loss of life.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office, investigated the cause of the blast, found that propane had been leaking from a line buried under the parking lot of the LEAP complex and that the leak caused the explosion. Investigators still don’t know what caused the leak or what produced the spark that triggered the explosion.

The explosion tore the two-story LEAP building off its foundation and sent debris flying 200 feet into the air. Eleven mobile homes in a nearby park were rendered uninhabitable. Thirty people were displaced.

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