DIXFIELD – Dixfield, Mexico and Rumford were without telephone service for most of Friday, affecting 911 emergency calls, the Internet and any phone-related computer connections. Cell phones were apparently affected, as well.

But as mysteriously as it went out, at least some of the service returned by early evening.

“The phones came back on round 5:30 to 6 p.m.” said Wayne Robbins from Med-Care late Friday night. “It was pretty scary to be without for so long. But we didn’t get inundated with 911 calls,” after it was over, he said.

Both Rumford police and fire departments confirmed that their phones were working late Friday evening.

A hit-and-run accident believed to have happened at about 9 a.m. on Route 2 in Dixfield just beyond Stone Road, may have been related to the outage.

Dixfield police Chief Richard A. Pickett said at the scene that a dual-wheel vehicle traveling east had slid off the road, smacked a utility pole, and just kept right on going.

The pole was shattered and severed about four feet off the ground. Traffic was limited to one lane while a Central Maine Power crew worked to anchor the top half and better secure power lines. By early Friday evening, a contingent of Verizon trucks and crews were working on the wires while flaggers slowed and directed traffic in one lane again.

Rumford police dispatcher Sue Milligan didn’t think the Dixfield accident had caused the phone system problem, unless it happened around 7 a.m. because, she said, that’s when she first experienced phone problems.

To contact Med-Care, Sue Milligan said she had to use her cell phone. The police phones weren’t working.

Computers at businesses like Wal-Mart in Mexico and Franklin Savings Bank in Rumford were down, as was Internet access, employees said. One Wal-Mart customer said people could call within Rumford, but not outside the community for most of the morning.

Med-Care Ambulance Assistant Chief Chris Moretto at the Mexico station was worried early Friday afternoon that people might be lying sick or injured in their homes or elsewhere, unable to call for help.

Normally busy responding to several calls, they’d not had a one since around 9 a.m., Moretto said.

“It happened right about the same time that Dixfield got called out to the pole and wires down. It’s affected the whole area,”Moretto said.

“And no one can call in. We’ve got a radio, but no one can call 911,” Milligan said.

Moretto said they’d contacted Rumford hospital and established a communication work-around.

“Our biggest concern right now are those sitting at home who are sick or injured. Maybe we’ll have a mass casualty to respond to when the phone lines come back on. But, hopefully, it’s just a quiet day to begin with,” he added.

Oxford County Sgt. Tim Holland also said 911 was screwy.

“There’s local calling, but that’s it. If you’re in Peru and you dial 911, you get the Dixfield fire station,” Holland said at the scene of a rollover accident Friday afternoon on Dickvale Road in Peru.

“Rumford fire called 911 as a test, and it went to the Rumford Police Department,” Holland added.

“It’s very inconvenient,” Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter said Friday afternoon at the station.

An Oxford County dispatcher in Paris said later Friday afternoon that nothing was wrong with the 911 system, because they were still getting and routing 911 calls. Instead, he said the problem was with phones just in Rumford, Dixfield and Mexico.

Telephones, a fax machine and the Internet were also down all day at the Sun Journal office in Rumford.