By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
NEW LIMERICK — Fire investigators may never know the cause of an explosion that killed a 79-year-old New Limerick man Wednesday afternoon.
According to Steve McCausland, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety, Budson Anderson, a former math teacher at Houlton High School, died when the storage building he was in, blew up in his backyard.
Anderson was working on lawn equipment just prior to the explosion, which leveled the building.
Several neighbors heard an explosion at 2:43 p.m. Milton Cone, Houlton’s Fire Chief, said his department was called for a reported structure fire at 25 Country Club Drive. A total of 19 firefighters responded to the scene and extinguished the shed by 2:57 p.m.
Although the structure was roughly 20 feet from both Anderson’s house and an adjacent dwelling, the explosion did not damage those buildings.
Anderson’s body was found just outside of the shed.
McCausland said the state’s Fire Marshal’s office was called to the scene and arrived shortly after 3 p.m. Because of the extensive damage to the structure, they were not able to determine an ignition source.
The incident marked the second time in two days that an Aroostook County man was killed in a fiery explosion.
Last Tuesday afternoon a 72-year-old Blaine man, Reginal Otis, died as a result of burns he received when an oil tank exploded. Otis was reportedly cutting up the oil tank with a torch.
