RUMFORD – A chip truck driver returning to a logging operation at Horseshoe Pond in Andover early Friday afternoon, accidentally knocked out power and telephone service to Coburn Brook Road residents for several hours, Rumford police Sgt. David Bean said late Friday night.
Adam Gammon, 40, of Rumford, was not injured after the trailer of the 2001 Freightliner big-rig he was driving, snagged a low hanging wire, ripped down wires and shattered a utility pole, Bean said.
“Logging trucks had been going back and forth regularly through there, so, I don’t know what happened,” he said.
The accident happened at 1:51 p.m. after Gammon rounded a slight corner at 82 Coburn Brook Road, which is off East Andover Road.
“He didn’t realize that anything was wrong until a section of the pole came slamming into the trailer, and he started feeling a power drag,” Bean said.
The truck had no violations and wasn’t over height, he added.
A Central Maine Power crew had to extricate the rig from the downed lines and pole debris.
The chip truck, which is owned by A and B Equipment Inc. of Rumford, sustained damage estimated at between $200 and $4,000, depending on whether or not the trailer’s framework was twisted, Bean said.
It was unknown how long power and phone service was out, but Central Maine Power crews were still working on the lines more than three hours later. Bean said he didn’t yet have a damage estimate from CMP or Verizon.
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