Condition of Jay man injured in explosion upgraded

FARMINGTON – The condition of the maintenance supervisor that was injured in the Sept. 16 explosion at the LEAP Inc. office building was upgraded again this week, moving to “fair” status.

According to a Massachusetts General Hospital spokesperson, Larry Lord, 61 of Jay, is now listed in “fair” condition, as of Tuesday afternoon. That is an upgrade from his previous designation of serious.

Lord has been called a hero by local officials after he helped evacuate the building of his fellow employees prior to the blast. The explosion occurred as Lord and members of Farmington Fire Rescue were investigating a report of a gas smell; the blast killed Capt. Michael Bell, 68, and sent six more firefighters to the hospital. Deputy Chief S. Clyde Ross was treated and released at Franklin Memorial Hospital, while Capt. Scott Baxter, Chief Terry Bell, Capt. Timothy “TD” Hardy and firefighters Joseph Hastings and Theodore “Ted” Baxter were transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

According to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Lord was in the basement of the building with Hardy, Hastings and Capt. Baxter when the explosion took place.

Lord was taken to Mass General with injuries that included severe burns, broken bones and other critical injuries, according to information posted to a gofundme site.

Lord is the only person injured in the Sept. 16 explosion still at a hospital. The firefighters were discharged over the past few weeks; Capt. Baxter was the last to return home, from a rehabilitation facility, on Oct. 29.

Investigators believe that propane leaked out of the buried line that ran from an external tank to the building, permeating the ground beneath the parking lot and then entering the building’s basement. That tank was filled with nearly 400 gallons of propane on Sept. 13, but was discovered to be empty on the morning of Sept. 16, prior to the explosion. The cause of the leak and what sparked the explosion remains under investigation.