JAY, Maine (AP) A maintenance worker who evacuated a building minutes before a deadly explosion has returned home to Maine to a hero’s welcome after more than six months of hospitalization and rehabilitation.

Larry Lord left Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital outside Boston and arrived home in Jay, Maine, with an escort of police cruisers and fire trucks.

Lord helped almost a dozen people get out of a building on Sept. 16, 2019, in Farmington, after he smelled propane gas.

The building exploded after he returned with firefighters to investigate the source of the gas leak. A firefighter was killed and others including Lord were hurt.