Searsmont Assistant Fire Chief & Local S6 Retiree Dies of Injuries from Mill Explosion

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Assistant Searsmont Fire Chief and Local S6 retiree Wayne Woodbury who died at Maine Medical Center on Sunday. Woodbury, 76, suffered serious injuries after responding to the devastating fire and silo explosion at the Robbins Lumber Mill in Searsmont on May 15.

A procession brought Woodbury’s body from Maine Med to the funeral home in Belfast, passing through Searsmont as locals gathered to watch. Searsmont resident Matt Gerrish said he went to school with Woodbury and worked with him at Bath Iron Works for several years.

“We need more people like that,” he told the Bangor Daily News. “Wayne was a good person, well-liked by everybody.”

Local S6 member Doug Hall also worked with Woodbury at BIW and remembered him fondly. “He was a great union brother, a great worker and a great guy,” said Hall.

The explosion also killed Local S6 member and Morrill firefighter Andrew Cross in the initial blast and injured a dozen other people, some of whom are still in the hospital. On Monday, injured Montville firefighter Jacob Spaulding was released from the hospital. Northport and Belmont firefighter Katherine Paige remains in the hospital, but is slowly improving, according to her husband.