AUBURN – A bizarre, chain-reaction wreck Thursday on South Main Street left more than a dozen children briefly trapped on a school bus as poles and wires fell and one car crashed through a horse fence, police said.

No serious injuries were reported in the 2:30 p.m. wreck that began when a woman, startled by a rolling water bottle, slammed into a Central Maine Power support pole.

The drama unfolded when Holly A. Lamiette, 48, of Auburn lost control of her car after a water bottle rolled across the front seat, police said Her eastbound Buick slammed into the support pole before crashing through a horse fence at 930 South Main St.

Lamiette did not suffer serious injuries, but the collision snapped the pole and left half of it leaning across the east bound lane. A support wire from that pole stretched across the street to a CMP pole on the other side, police said.

Meanwhile, Wayne Romano, 54, of Sebastian, was eastbound on South Main Street when he noticed the wreckage in the roadway. Romano stopped near the fallen support pole as police and rescue crews were on the way.

Traveling in the opposite direction, Betty Witham, 49, of New Gloucester, was driving a school bus filled with 15 to 20 middle school-age children. According to a police report, Witham did not see the wires hanging across the road and drove into them.

The tension on the wire lifted the fallen support pole off the ground and launched it through the air. Police said the pole then landed on Romano’s car a short distance away.

The children on the school bus remained there until emergency crews determined that the wire the bus contacted was a support wire carrying no electricity.

Another bus was sent to the scene and the school kids were loaded onto it and taken home, according to investigating officer Don Gosselin. Romano and Lamiette were examined for possible injuries.

The messy wreck forced the closure of part of South Main Street as crews responded and cleanup began. Damage resulting from the crash was expected to top $10,000.

Damage to Lamiette’s Buick was estimated at $3,000; to the horse fence on the property of Ray Labrie, $300.

Damage to the city of Auburn school bus, a 1998 Harvester, was estimated at $500; to Romano’s 2001 Toyota, $4,000.

Damage to the Central Maine Power Co. equipment had not been repaired. Crews began to fix the damage once the crash debris was cleared.