It is most likely that we have all, at least once, had our feet slide out from under us. It is safe to assume that here in Maine, not many have experienced their home sliding beneath them. Such an event took place in September of 1983. The location of that disaster was at 53 Longfellow Road, off Brackett Road, at the home of Paul Boivin and Audrey Sawyer and their three children: Paula, age two; a younger brother, Shawn, age one; and an older brother, Christopher, age eight.

It was mid-afternoon on what seemed to be an ordinary day. Suddenly, young Paula began to cry as she was napping in her bedroom. Sawyer ran to check her but could not pry open the bedroom door. Things had fallen off the walls and a beam had come up through the floor blocking the entrance to the child’s bedroom. As only a mother could do, she somehow broke through the door and rescued her child. 

At the very same time, young Shawn was sitting in his walker on the back deck. As the house was shifting upward, the deck was shifting in the opposite direction. Luckily, one of the workers from Hillocks Well Drilling saw what was about to happen and quickly jumped off his machine in time to rescue little Shawn before he slid under the house. Fortunately, the oldest child, Christopher, was at school at the time of the incident.

Several vehicles were damaged along with the home and the garage. Boivin’s dump truck, Sawyer’s Dodge Dart, a painter’s van, and one of Hillock’s well drilling rigs were all damaged as a result of the landslide. Surprisingly, both the house and the garage were salvaged and eventually moved to an area closer to the road.

Several acres of land had been shifted toward the Stroudwater River and the Indian Camp Brook as a result of the landslide. The river did rise and probably took on a new route. Miraculously, there were no serious injuries and no loss of life.

Several volunteers from both the Westbrook and Gorham fire departments assisted. Captain Clyde R. Chapman, working the Westbrook Fire Ladder #1 recalled, “We were the first crew to arrive that day. We parked fire and rescue at the end of the long driveway and walked in carrying ropes, ladders and other equipment.” Much to their amazement, they discovered a landslide of over five acres in size, which Chapman described as “surreal.”

Interestingly, there was a visiting firefighter, Emma Wilton, from New Zealand riding along with the Westbrook Fire Crew on that day. Chapman recalled, “Her eyes were as big as saucers when she saw that house down in the hole with a baby’s playpen lying on its side.”

As always, when disaster strikes in Gorham, many businesses and private citizens helped financially as well as physically. As the cleanup got underway, Russ Kimball arrived daily and helped to keep the working crews well fed. Another local man came each and every day just to help where he could until the job was completed.