A five-year veteran of the Edgecomb Fire Department was injured early Friday morning while on route to a Nobleboro house fire that left the home destroyed and the firefighter at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta.
Responding to a 1:30 a.m. call, Assistant Fire Chief Steve Ward was traveling east on North Dyer Neck Rd. in Newcastle when a large section of road washed out in the heavy rain and sent his 2005 GMC pick-up truck flying.
Members of The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Edgecomb Fire Department and the Dyer Neck Road neighborhood all agree that Ward is a lucky man after escaping the accident without more serious injury.
“It was a somewhat miraculous escape,” said North Dyer Neck Rd resident Jay Norwalk. “I’ve lived here over 20 years, and while it’s common for sections of the road to flood and wash out, I’ve never seen anything like this. The washout must’ve been 10 feet wide and at least as deep. There’s no way he could’ve seen it, and had he been going slower, the front end of his truck would have dropped down into the hole and hit the opposite side and come to a sudden stop, which I think might have killed the driver.”
“Looking at the ditch and the washout behind his vehicle I think Steve was very lucky he wasn’t more seriously injured,” said Edgecomb Fire Chief Roy Potter.
According to Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Ken Mason, no driver fault was cited in the accident report. “Sometimes these things just happen. I don’t think it could’ve been seen or avoided,” Mason said. He added that Ward’s truck was completely destroyed and “it sounds like he was very lucky.”
Norwalk said he hopes sections of the road can be properly repaired to avoid future accidents, and pointed out that one of the Sheriff’s Office vehicles also suffered wash out damage on route to the accident scene. Mason said that one of the vehicles did get a flat tire.
Chief Potter was also on route to the Nobleboro fire when he heard the accident call, but at the time, he didn’t realize the accident involved his own Assistant Chief. When he was diverted from the fire to the accident scene and realized that Ward was involved, “I was very worried”, he said.
On Monday morning, Ward, who is now recovering at home, was matter of fact in his description of the accident, and his injuries, which include a broken vertebra and a broken nose.
“It was a surprise,” he said. “The visibility was about 15 feet. I saw a hole in the road and thought ‘that’s gonna be a bump.’ The next thing I knew, the road started to collapse underneath me.”
While Ward says he won’t be back at work anytime soon, he was far more concerned about the house fire, caused by a lightening strike to the home of Jim Maxmin and Shoshanna Zuboff.
Both Ward and Potter stated that they wished they had made it to the fire, and both expressed relief that all family members, including their pets, had escaped without injury.
“I wish I had made it there, but it’s good that they all got out,” Ward said.
