WILTON — Traffic and electrical power were disrupted on Lake Road on Wednesday morning when loggers cut a pine tree that brought down a pole, transformer and lines.

A total of 316 power customers were affected, Gail Rice, a representative of Central Maine Power Co., said. Called out shortly after 9 a.m., CMP repairmen had 223 of those customers back online within two hours. The other 93 customers got their power back at 3 p.m. Wednesday, she said.

After waiting two days for the wind around Wilson Lake to calm down, Ron Brann of Mexico said conditions were right at about 9 a.m. Wednesday for him, Jim and Chris Arsenault to continue cutting large pines for a customer on the west side of Lake Road.

After the falling tree struck the limb of a nearby birch, the limb snapped and the tree went across the road. It brought down a pole and transformer. Tree branches caught fire and then the transformer exploded, Chris Arsenault said. 

“There were fireworks for a few minutes,” he added.

The pole belonged to the telephone company and CMP repairmen had to wait until a telephone company representative arrived to set a new pole before they could restore power for the remaining customers.

Wilton Fire Department and East Dixfield Fire Department responded to block traffic until CMP arrived.

abryant@sunjournal.com