An excavator that caught some utility lines snapped one utility pole and pulled a second pole over near the intersection of the Eddy Road and Route 1 in Edgecomb around 8 a.m. Friday morning.
Local businesses near the intersection were still without power at 10 a.m., but calls to Central Maine Power about the extent of the outages have not yet been returned.
Walter Brewer, 54, of Waldoboro, was operating the excavator when it snagged the wires.
“I was watching the high tension wire, and caught the low tension wire and pulled it down,” Brewer said.
Tony Casella, who is the managing member of The View Development, LLC, said Brewer was “hired to do interior demolition” and remove rubbish from within the building on the property.
The View Development owns the property on which Brewer operated the excavator, Casella said.
Brewer said the dumpster where he was putting the refuse from the building was full, and he intended to use the excavator to compact it so more would fit. “I know how to run them,” Brewer said.
Casella said he had told Brewer to just keep piling stuff on top of the dumpster, and that an authorized excavator operator would be by later in the day to compact it.
Edgecomb Fire Chief Roy Potter confirmed that no one was injured in the incident.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Dennison said that the incident is currently under investigation.
