Central Maine Power stepped in to help restore power to Jefferson residents on medical support devices Oct. 18 after a vehicle took out a FairPoint Communications utility pole, according to Jefferson Fire Chief Walter Morris.
The pole, located near 103 Goose Hill Rd., was struck by a single vehicle and went down across the road with live wires, Morris said.
A CMP lineman responded and cut power to the lines, and let Morris know it was a FairPoint pole that needed to be replaced.
“As we were discussing the situation, we let him know that we knew had people that were without power that were on medical devices that required power,” Morris said.
There was some difficulty getting a response from FairPoint, however, because of on-going strikes at the company, Morris said.
Around 2,000 Fairpoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont went on strike Oct. 17, as two unions and the company continue to struggle over contract negotiations, according to media reports.
Without a clear idea of when the pole would be replaced so power could be restored, the fire department would have needed to get generators or oxygen tanks to residents that needed them for their medical devices, Morris said.
“At that point, the representative from CMP said he would see what he could do,” Morris said.
“Within a very short time, he let us know because of the situation with people who needed electricity for medical support devices, that they would call a crew, they would bring a pole, and CMP would in fact replace the pole and get electricity service restored as soon as they could,” he said.
Gail Rice, a spokesperson for CMP, confirmed the company reset the pole.
“For whatever reason, if FairPoint can’t get to the site of an accident to replace a pole, we have done this in the past. This isn’t unprecedented by any stretch,” Rice said.
CMP had to cut power to 87 customers at 3:53 p.m. for safety reasons, Rice said. Power was restored to 14 of them by about 4:30, and the remaining customers had power back at about 7:50 p.m., she said.
“It was nice to see that a company like CMP would be so responsive and do the right thing,” Morris said. “Their primary focus was on the safety and well-being of their customers, and that’s a good thing.”
A call to FairPoint Communications for comment was not immediately returned.
According to Lt. Rand Maker, of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Kyle Northrup, 25, of Jefferson, was headed northbound on Goose Hill Road when he was distracted as he picked up a cell phone.
Northrup’s vehicle, a 2000 Pontiac coupe, crossed the center line and struck the utility pole, Maker said.
Northrup complained of some pain related to wearing a seat belt, but was not transported, Maker said.
Jefferson Fire and Rescue was paged out to the accident at 2:27 p.m. and cleared the scene at 4:55 p.m., Morris said. Waldoboro EMS also responded to the scene, he said.
