A pickup truck crashes into a telephone pole on High Street in Oakland before catching fire Monday evening, causing a power outage in the area. Photo courtesy of Oakland Police Department

OAKLAND — A pickup truck that crashed Monday on High Street and caught fire caused a power outage that affected roughly 3,000 Central Maine Power Co. customers in the area, according to a CMP spokesperson.

The crash occurred just before 8 p.m. when the pickup crashed into a telephone pole, according to Oakland fire Chief Dave Coughlin and police Deputy Chief Rick Stubbert. There was some confusion in the response, Coughlin said, because the power outage affected the department’s communications. The Fire Department did get the alert for the crash, but firefighters were unable to notify the communications center that they were responding.

The driver was able to escape the pickup before it became engulfed in flames, Coughlin said. Thick black smoke billowed from the pickup and could be seen throughout the area. Images from the scene that were posted to social media appear to show a damaged utility pole and downed power lines.

The driver was not injured, Stubbert said, and the cause of the crash was not clear Tuesday. Police closed the road for around an hour and then it was only open to one lane while CMP responded to the outage, he said.

Emily Downing, corporate communications officer for CMP, said just over 3,000 customers were affected by the outage. Power was restored for nearly 1,200 customers about 9:15 p.m. Monday, and power was restored for the remaining customers by midnight, she said.

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central maine power, cmnews, crash, listen, morning sentinel, oakland maine
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