A storm front that moved through Western Maine on Monday evening spawned widespread power outages as trees were blown over, pulling lines from poles as they fell.
One of those trees was reported to have landed on a tent, trapping someone inside at a Route 5 campground in Fryeburg.
Fryeburg police, fire and rescue service personnel were all responding to calls that started coming in about 7 p.m. They couldn’t be reached immediately for more information about the tree incident at Fiddlehead Campground. The sprawling camping area is off Route 5 and has become popular among Saco River canoe trippers.
At about the same time, a lightning strike was being blamed for sparking a fire at the Masonic Hall on Main Street in Bryant Pond. Firefighters from as far away as Andover were called to help battle the blaze.
Oxford County dispatchers also alerted other fire departments to calls regarding downed, sparking wires and at least one instance of a tree burning, either from hot wires or another lightning strike.
The National Weather Service in Gray had earlier issued a severe storm warning for parts of southwestern Maine. A nearly solid line of squalls was moving east as a cold front pushed against a mass of hot, humid air that had settled over the region over the weekend.
Thunderstorms accompanied by heavy winds were to continue through about 10 p.m., the NWS said.
Central Maine Power Co. was sending crews to respond to widespread outages in dozens of communities. More than 6,900 CMP customers were in the dark at 8:30 p.m., said Kevin Howes, CMP’s communications center supervisor.
Hardest hit were towns served from CMP’s Bridgton repair service center. Howes said 5,174 customers were affected by outages in the region, which includes much of Oxford County.
Another 566 CMP customers in Franklin County, spread from Wilton to more westerly towns, also were in the dark, Howes said.
The number of affected customers dropped off sharply closer to Lewiston, where three nearby towns had reported outages that left about 75 customers looking for candles and flashlights.
Howes said that while the utility’s crews were working to restore power as quickly as possible, he couldn’t offer an estimate on when that might happen.
The NWS said another round of thunderstorms could boil up this afternoon as cooler, drier air associated with the cold front takes hold in the region. Showers and thunderstorms could linger through the evening, the weather service said.
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