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Maintenance worker injured in Maine explosion discharged from Boston

Nurse Lia Mastrocola, of Massachusetts General Hospital, offered support to Larry Lord as he departed Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Massachusetts State Police, hospital workers, and other well-wishers on Friday sent a hero off to his hometown in Maine after he spent nearly seven months in Boston hospitals for the treatment of injuries he suffered in a devastating gas explosion.

Larry Lord, who helped co-workers evacuate a commercial building in Farmington, Maine, before a propane tank exploded, was discharged from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown.

He was transferred to the facility in February after spending about five months at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was severely burned when the building that housed LEAP, an organization that helps people with developmental disabilities and Lord’s employer, exploded on Sept. 16, 2019.

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Lord helped nearly a dozen people get out of the building after he smelled propane gas.

The building exploded after he returned with firefighters to investigate the source of the propane leak. The explosion killed Farmington Fire Captain Michael Bell and injured seven others, including Lord.

Investigators later determined that the blast was caused by a leak in a propane tank that allowed gas to pool in the basement before igniting.

On Friday morning, Massachusetts State Police provided an escort for the ambulance that would transport Lord from Boston to his home in Jay, Maine.

The ambulance was to be met at the Maine border by a State Police honor guard. Other first responders, including state and local police and fire departments, were to join the procession to Lord’s home in Jay, a small town about 20 minutes south of Farmington.

The motorcade was due in Augusta around 2 p.m. where it was to be joined by state fire marshals, the Farmington Fire Department, and Jay police.

In Jay, Lord was welcomed home by residents who observed social distancing by either staying in their cars or standing several feet apart on the side of the road.

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“I was thrilled to see the size of the procession that went through town for him,” Stephen Bunker, a volunteer firefighter and vice chairman of the town’s select board, said by telephone Friday evening. “I lost track of the number of ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, and other motorists who were driving through town with us”

Law enforcement officers prepared to escort Larry Lord home as he departed Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown on April 10, 2020. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Material from the Associated Press was used in this story. Stephanie Purifoy can be reached at stephanie.purifoy@globe.com