31 Days in a Coma, Then a Hero’s Welcome: Inside a Maine Firefighter’s Long Road Home
Along a stretch of Route 3 in Montville, Maine, cars filled driveways, parking lots, and roadside shoulders early Monday afternoon. Firefighters stood shoulder to shoulder near their trucks. Neighbors held signs. Everyone was waiting for the same person.
Jacob Spaulding, 23, was coming home.
The Montville volunteer firefighter had spent 31 days at Maine Medical Center in Portland, recovering from severe burns he suffered while responding to an explosion and fire at the Robbins Lumber mill in nearby Searsmont on May 15. He had spent several of those days in a medically induced coma. His father, Henry, said the swelling was so bad in the first 48 hours that he barely recognized his own son.
A Long 30 Days
“It was a long 30 days to watch your kid lay there,” Henry said. He described the community’s turnout as something that meant everything to his family.
Twelve people were injured in the blast. Investigators later determined it was accidental, likely sparked when airborne sawdust particulate near a silo’s unloader mechanism ignited and touched off a larger fire. Andrew Cross, 27, of Morrill, died at the scene that day.
Spaulding’s discharge came one day after Searsmont Assistant Fire Chief Wayne Woodbury, 76, died at the same Portland hospital from injuries suffered in the same explosion. Woodbury had served the fire departments of Searsmont and Belmont for nearly 60 years. His death was mourned by roughly 400 people at a memorial service later that month, and Maine’s governor ordered flags lowered statewide in his honor.
For the firefighting community across Waldo County, Monday carried both relief and grief in the same breath.
“He’s Usually Never Too Far Away”
Spaulding’s sister, Katherine, and his godmother, Maria Valles, waited along the route with signs. “Not having him here has been the hardest,” Katherine said. “He’s usually never too far away.”
The procession home was not small. Cars, fire trucks, and law enforcement vehicles escorted Spaulding from the Augusta Civic Center, up Route 3, and into the Montville Fire Station, the department where he has served as a volunteer.
When he finally stepped out, he was met with banners, hugs, and applause from the department he’d signed up to protect.
Spaulding’s face still showed red scars from the burns. He’ll need to protect his skin from the sun this summer and keep it hydrated. Doctors expect his full recovery to take about two years, with regular follow-up visits back to Portland.
None of that dimmed the moment. “I’m feeling good,” Spaulding said. “It’s great to be home.”
He credited the doctors and burn-unit staff who cared for him, and said his thoughts stayed with the other patients still recovering. Three people remained hospitalized in Portland and three more at a Boston burn center in the weeks after the explosion.
A Small Town’s Way of Saying Thank You
Fellow firefighters describe Spaulding as resilient, the kind of young man who would answer the call again despite what it cost him. His family says the same thing, in a different way: that watching a hometown show up like this, for one of its own, is its own kind of proof that no one recovers alone.
