BUCKSTOWN, Pennsylvania — On Saturday morning, Andrew Ryan Cross, a 27-year-old volunteer firefighter in the tiny town of Morrill, Maine, received an honorable transfer, as he made his final call from the Augusta medical examiner’s office to a funeral home in Belfast.The fire that took Cross’s life was reported to the State Fire Marshall at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont just after 10 a.m. on Friday morning. Crews working to put out the fire in a silo heard a loud explosion, according to WMTW News 8 in Portland, Maine. Cross was found dead at the scene.The Maine State Fire Marshall’s Office said that multiple fire departments responded to the Waldo County scene. Many of them were volunteer firefighters like Cross, who serve the county, which has a 90% rural population.
By all accounts, Cross was a doer. He played soccer and baseball at Belfast Area High School. He was a member of the National Honor Society, finishing his education with an associate’s degree in Mechanical Technology and a certificate in Heavy Equipment Operation.
Outside of his volunteer work for the local fire department, Cross held multiple jobs. He worked as an outside machinist, owned his own business plowing and mowing for people in his community, and plowed roads for the town of Morrill.
