Logging truck rolls over in Rumford

RUMFORD – A logging-truck driver escaped injury early Saturday morning after his loaded rig rolled off a sharp corner on Route 2, spilling a load of pine into a resident’s yard.

The accident happened at 4:48 a.m. between Martin and Whippoorwill roads as Michael K. Danforth, 22, of Corinth, Vt., was driving a 2005 Peterbuilt east with a load of 8-foot pine logs, according to Patrolman Lawrence Winson’s report.

“He came into the sharp corner and his load shifted, causing the trailer to flip, flipping the tractor over, too,” Sgt. David Bean said early Monday evening, reading from the report.

The rig rolled onto its side off the opposite lane and and landed in a drainage ditch, damaging trees in the yard of Patricia Flaherty and a Central Maine Power utility pole, Bean said.

Damage to the rig, which is owned by Theodore Salomaa Trucking of Bradford, Vt., was estimated at $12,000; to the pole, $1,500; and to Flaherty’s trees, $2,000.

No citations were issued. Rumford firefighters assisted, as did M/T Pockets Towing of Dixfield, which hauled away the rig.