Public safety officials on Friday afternoon said they could add little to the patchwork of details that have emerged about the fire at the Robbins Lumber mill in Searsmont.
The blaze was reported at 10:05 a.m. Friday and continued to burn late into the afternoon with reports of explosions at the facility, which sits back from Route 131 and includes more than a dozen buildings for different aspects of the 145-year-old family business including milling, drying and storage.
At least 11 people have been hospitalized at Maine Health and Northern Light Health facilities with injuries from the fire, according to the health systems.
At Friday’s press conference, Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said he could not provide numbers of people injured “or where they were working or who they were working for.”
He said officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration, along with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Maine State Police were present at the scene in Searsmont.
“The only answer in a situation like this is yes,” he said. “If we’re asking for resources, if we’re asking for help, then other agencies immediately step up to do that.”
Shawn Esler of the state fire marshal’s office, who arrived early at the scene of the fire, commended the response from numerous local fire departments, but called the scene “very chaotic” because of the magnitude of the fire.
Esler said the cause of the fire may not be known for a long time.
His office’s primary concern now is “cataloging and ensuring those that have sustained injuries as a result of this fire are taken care of” and that families are notified, he said.
“And we’re not in a position to discuss that information at this point, because we have some families we need to talk with,” he said.
