BUXTON — Harry Weymouth joined Buxton Fire Department when he was 15 years old. Groveville was the station Weymouth called home.

As the years went by, and life changed, he remained a volunteer in Buxton, was a full-time firefighter and paramedic in South Portland and was a registered nurse, putting his skills to work in the emergency departments of Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford and Sanford since 2006.

At 1 a.m. on Thursday, Weymouth, 46, was driving his 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt eastbound on Route 202, crossed the centerline and struck a 2014 Ford Fusion operated by Zahra Guedi, 45, of Portland. He was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland by Buxton Fire & Rescue.

Weymouth died in the hospital around 4 a.m., said Maine Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland. Guedi and her passenger were also taken to Maine Medical with non-life threatening injuries.

Authorities believe Weymouth, a husband and father of three, fell asleep at the wheel.

His colleagues in South Portland, where he worked for 21 years, his colleagues in Buxton where he continued to volunteer, and those in the wider firefighting community are mourning the loss of one of their own.

“He was very involved in training, in responding,” said Buxton Fire Chief Nathan Schools. “His name is a household word around the station.”

Thirty years ago, when Weymouth joined the fire service at Groveville station, fellow Buxton resident Tony Townsend, also 15, joined at Bar Mills.

The two went to high school together, and while Weymouth went off to Southern Maine Community College to study firefighting, Townsend went to New York to pursue other interests. The two kept in touch over the years.

Townsend now lives in Porter and is a volunteer firefighter with the Kezar Falls Fire Department.

“I ran into him in Buxton a week ago,” said Townsend. “We were talking about work and family and what we were up to.”

“He was kind of quiet,” said Townsend. “He loved what he did. He was an excellent teacher. He picked up things easily and passed on what he knew to a lot of people — he trained a lot of people.”

Southern Maine Health Care CEO Nate Howell said Weymouth had a passion for his community and dedicated his life to helping others.

“Harry was a calming presence for patients in the emergency department during his 12 years as an RN at SMHC, and he forged strong connections with his colleagues,” said Howell in a statement released Thursday evening. “Our hearts go out to Harry’s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”

Schools said Weymouth rose through the ranks to chief of the Groveville department. Buxton retains three fire stations — Groveville, Bar Mills and Chicopee — but back when Weymouth joined, those three stations were also three separate departments, Schools said. The three merged in 1995.

In latter years, with his full-time firefighting career, his nursing career and family responsibilities, Weymouth didn’t volunteer at every call, said Schools. But he remained a vital member of the volunteer service.

“He was one of those people who wouldn’t come to every call that we had but the calls that really mattered, he was there,” said Schools. “For the big fires, the bad accidents, the serious calls — he would be there in the middle of them. He’d handle a situation and you’d know it was handled correctly.”

“As small a family as the fire rescue service is, Harry was not just a firefighter, paramedic and officer, he would teach people,” said Schools.

On Thursday, Weymouth was treated by one of the people he had trained — that individual was leading the crew.

“It hit very close to home,” Schools said.

“He was generous, and had a big heart,” said Townsend. “This is a great loss to a lot of people in a lot of places.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.