I'm fine, I'm safe. Don't turn on the TV.

Those were the words Meghan (Brewer) Flint, R.N., texted to her mother shortly after the bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon on April 15.

Flint, a 2007 graduate of Boothbay Region High School and daughter of Trish Brewer of Boothbay Harbor and the late Mark Brewer, was a volunteer in medical Tent B about a block away from the finish line where the first of two bombs exploded.

“I wanted her to know I was safe and I didn't want her to watch TV because it was like a war zone down here,” said Flint in a phone interview Monday night at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Flint, who was volunteering in the runners' tent for the second year with a nurse friend, Michelle, said she heard the first explosion and about 10 to 15 seconds later heard the second bomb explode.

“Michelle and I had been at the finish line two and a half hours before the race began, taking photos, which is what we did last year,” Flint said. “We went back to our tent to treat the runners as they came in and just before 3 p.m., I heard the first explosion.”

Flint said she didn't see any of those injured in the blasts come to her tent, as most of them were treated in medical Tent A (which was near the finish line) or they were taken away to hospitals by ambulances.

“The response was great,” Flint said. “Within minutes, all we heard were sirens.”

About five minutes after the explosions, Flint and others working in Tent B were told by the coordinator to clear the runners out of the tent.

“We had to evacuate them opposite of where we normally do, which caused some confusion,” Flint said. “About that time, Michelle was called to work at Boston Medical Center.”

One of the last runners that Flint worked on was a man from England.

“He told me 'I don't know if I'm cold or nervous' as he came into the tent right after the explosions,” Flint said.

“He told me he was trying to reach his wife who was a spectator but was having no luck with his cell phone,” Flint said. “I asked him for his wife's number and tried to reach her on my phone. No luck.”

Flint said eventually the man was able to find his wife, but only after calling his mother in England, who was able to find her.

Cell phone service in the city was shut down quickly after the explosions for the fear of someone detonating another bomb by cell phone. Also, the computer system tracking the runners went down after the explosions, so families had a hard time finding their family members or friends running in the race.

Flint said after evacuating the tent, she began the two-mile walk to the Boston Medical Center to find Michelle.

“I ran for a little while and just before I reached Boston Common, I stopped in front of the Park Plaza Hotel and watched about seven ambulances, bomb squads, FBI vehicles, SWAT teams and police screaming toward the bomb scene,” Flint said. “I was freaking out … I felt so vulnerable. I was thinking about the poor people who were injured and felt so helpless.”

By the time she reached Boston Medical, Flint said her cell phone was nearly drained of power and she couldn't reach Michelle by phone. The hospital, like many other buildings, was in lock down and only certain personnel could enter.

“I finally managed to ask someone to ask Michelle to come to the door to let me in,” Flint said.

Flint, who works in the cardiac unit at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, N.H., headed home about 6 p.m.

“It's the closest I've ever come to death,” Flint said.