ANDOVER – A Farmington Falls man had to climb out the passenger-side window of his employer’s truck after crashing it off Route 120 and through ice near Ellis Falls.
Todd Tyler, 26, was not injured in the 10:45 a.m. accident, but the North American Services Group Ford F350 XL Super Duty pickup truck he was driving was totaled. It sustained an estimated $10,000 damage, Maine State Trooper Dan Hanson said Saturday at the scene.
Andover Fire Chief Ken Dixon said about 30 to 40 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the deadwater when the truck broke through 10-inch-thick ice. The truck was not submerged.
Hanson said Tyler was eastbound on Route 120 when he rounded a sharp curve near Ellis Falls, lost control on the icy shoulder and crossed the centerline.
The truck went off the road, crashed through three dead trees that ripped the two front wheels off, along with the undercarriage, and down an embankment and into water. The initial impact threw three 5-foot-long tree trunks several feet through the air.
Dixon’s son, Capt. Rob Dixon, said a partially filled 100- to 250-gallon tank of diesel fuel in the truck bed was upside down with “fuel pouring out” when he arrived.
Firefighters placed a boom around the spill, along with spill pads to sop up the fuel, antifreeze, motor oil and other engine fluids.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was called to assess the situation and help with cleanup.
In addition to investigating the crash, Hanson arrested Tyler on Franklin County warrants and later took him to the Oxford County Jail in Paris.
Responders had to overcome initial confusion to find the crash after a dispatcher in Paris said it happened on Route 120 in Roxbury near the falls, Rob Dixon said.
“I knew Roxbury didn’t have falls, but I knew Andover did, so I went out to verify where it was, and here it was,” he said, two miles from Andover’s station.
Andover firefighters were then called, as Roxbury firefighters, who had to travel much farther, continued on, to shut down the road, direct traffic and help at the scene.
Eric Thibodeau of North American Services Group, said Tyler was headed from his father’s home on South Arm Road in Andover to Thibodeau’s place in Mexico to pick up workers and take them to a job in Massachusetts.
The company, which is based in New York and has an office in Dixfield, does environmental protection work for power plants, Thibodeau added.
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