RUMFORD – Police, firefighters and Central Maine Power crews were busy late Thursday night and into Friday morning searching for the cause of a power outage that stretched from Rumford to Byron, police said.
Rumford firefighter Donald Coulombe said late Friday afternoon that a severed power line on Falls Hill along Route 2 caused the widespread outage from 10:15 p.m. Thursday to about 1 a.m. Friday.
“It was a major malfunction,” Coulombe said. “One of the cables on Falls Hill in the middle of the downhill side got cut in half.”
Thunderstorms and heavy rain raged through the area then, but Coulombe said he didn’t know if the main wire was severed by a lightning bolt, or if it had developed a weak spot and broke.
Central Maine Power could not be reached for information.
“We got a slew of calls, and we were out chasing it down, and we helped CMP,” Coulombe said.
He said the first calls began pouring in at 10:15 p.m. from the Franklin Street area.
Firefighters were sent to Concord Apartments on Franklin Street looking for a downed transformer or trees on wires that might have caused the blackout conditions.
Rumford police Sgt. Tracey Higley said Friday afternoon that power was out from Falls Hill to Concord Apartments and north of there, all the way to Byron.
Higley said he had officers directing traffic at the intersection of Hancock Street and Lincoln Avenue and on Falls Hill during the outage. He said officers also checked on businesses, but there were no reports of break-ins.
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