Full Press conference from officials on Robbins Lumber explosion, fire — BREAKING NEWS

[0:00] Thank you very much for joining us here on a very traumatic afternoon in Searsmont. [0:05] For those of you I don't know, my name is Mike Soschuk. I am the Commissioner for the Department [0:09] of Public Safety. I'm joined by Fire Marshal Chief Sean Esler and Deputy Chief Joel Davis, [0:15] who have been down at the scene through the remainder of the day. So I do appreciate you [0:21] being here. It's a tough week all the way around and I think that what we found here today was [0:28] first responders responding as a team to an incredibly dynamic and dangerous situation. [0:34] The truth be told is still ongoing as we speak and at about 10.05 this morning the Searsmont [0:41] Fire Department responded to a reported fire in the area of a silo here at Robbins Lumber and from [0:49] that point there were a number of agencies that responded as mutual aid and truth be told I would [0:55] love to list all those out for you because they deserve to be acknowledged but we're in that [1:00] area where we're still trying to catalog exactly who these agencies were. I would also say the same [1:06] thing we do have some injured individuals without question that we are actively tracking but I'm not [1:12] in a situation where I'm going to be able to give you numbers or where they were working or who they [1:18] were working for. Those will be incredibly valid questions that you have. I fully understand that [1:24] but it's imperative for us to make sure we give you the right information as early as possible. [1:31] We also have a strong commitment to Robbins Lumber and to the family members that are involved. [1:36] That's going to be our first primary focus. From an investigative standpoint the Fire Marshal's [1:42] Office based out of the Department of Public Safety is the primary investigating entity. We do have [1:47] representatives from ATF, OSHA, DEP, the Maine State Police and others that are present. The only answer [1:56] in a situation like this is yes. If we're asking for resources, if we're asking for help then other [2:02] agencies immediately step up to do that. So I wanted to give you some basic information there. I am going [2:08] to turn this over to Fire Marshal Esler as the first member of the Fire Marshal's Office to arrive at the [2:14] scene when all these agencies were actively fighting that fire just because I want Sean to be able to [2:20] give you a little bit of a picture about what he saw when he arrived and I think that could be helpful [2:25] moving forward as well. We're not going to be in a position that we're going to be able to answer any [2:30] of those questions today right now. So we'll give you as much information as we can and front load that [2:35] and then we're going to get back down to the scene to continue our work. I've talked to Governor [2:39] Mills a number of times this afternoon. She is on the way here as we speak and I believe she'll be here [2:45] within the next hour or so. We've also talked to a couple of the owners for Robbins Lumber and they [2:50] have been incredibly forthright and they're part of the solution here and our heart goes out to them [2:58] as well with a company and an industry that's been around since the late 1800s with six or so generations [3:06] of the Robbins family involved in this lumber yard and others in the area. So Fire Marshal Essler I'm [3:12] going to turn it over to you sir. Thank you Commissioner. Today at approximately 10.05 the Searsmont [3:21] Fire Department was dispatched down to the Robbins Lumber Company as the Commissioner's already mentioned. [3:27] They were the first arriving fire company. Here in Moldo County most of our most of our fire departments [3:34] are made up of volunteers. They're awfully incredible dedicated individuals. Multiple departments [3:41] often will come to a simple alarm. Again as the Commissioner pointed out we don't yet have a [3:46] catalog of all those departments that were here. Upon my arrival I walked up to this very chaotic [3:56] scene initially and not because of the efforts of the first responders but because of the magnitude [4:02] of the fire involvement and the amount of sheer buildings that were on fire faced with the limited [4:09] resources the fire departments had. Again we're in Waldo County made up of all volunteers and what I saw was [4:17] professional firefighting efforts. I saw everybody working hand in hand to pull hose lines to move apparatus [4:24] and to put water on the fire. I also saw members from state police, forest service and a bunch of various [4:34] state agencies lending a hand wherever they could. We have not even really begun a scene examination so we [4:45] do not have a cause at this time and may not have for quite some time. We have a tremendous amount of work [4:53] to do but as the Commissioner noted the Fire Marshal's Office primary concern right now is cataloging and [5:04] ensuring those that have sustained injuries as a result of this fire are taken care of. That families [5:13] are notified and we're not in a position to discuss that information at this point because we have some [5:22] families we need to talk with. That's about it. Yeah so thank you again very much we do appreciate it. [5:30] Shannon Moss as our PIO for DPS will be the primary point of contact moving forward and again I truly [5:37] do apologize for not having a bunch of time and answers for any questions that you may have. I do [5:42] appreciate you all being here today and then we hope to regroup with some other time when we have some [5:47] additional details for you. Okay so take care be safe please up here and be very mindful of our first [5:53] responders that are trying to help control the scene. You've been great down here and we truly [5:57] do appreciate that. Okay take care. I do appreciate it but we're not going to we're not going to be [6:02] able to answer any of those questions so take care. Thank you. All right wrapping up a live news [6:08] conference that we've been waiting on primarily run by the Commissioner of the Department of Public [6:12] Safety right there also heard from the the State Fire Marshal and as we were just saying before it [6:16] started anticipated not necessarily getting a lot of answers did not take questions from reporters on the scene [6:24] which speaks to where they are in their investigation. Right. They are just trying to get the initials. [6:30] The phrase that jumped out to me was not even started a scene examination. Yeah. Right. They are [6:34] just trying to manage what's happening right now.