Power outage: Roads closed after truck tears down power lines, snaps poles

MANSFIELD - Two sections of roadway on Mansfield's east side are closed after a truck left its boom extended, snapped two telephone poles and tore down power lines Wednesday afternoon.

Park Avenue East between Illinois Avenue and Lucas Road, along with Illinois Avenue North between Park Avenue East and Pulver List Road, were closed for several hours because of downed power lines.

FirstEnergy spokesperson Mark Durbin said Thursday power was restored to all customers by just before 4 a.m. Thursday, with power restored to two final customers as new poles were put up and wire was strung.

Durbin said about 211 customers had their power back on by around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, and another large section of customers had power restored before midnight.

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Ohio Edison previously reported between 101 and 500 customers were affected.

Trooper Chad Belcher with the Mansfield post of the Ohio Highway Patrol said the boom truck driver reported he was working on the railroad tracks in the area of South Illinois Avenue and Oak Street.

Belcher said the truck, which appeared to be carrying railroad ties, left the area traveling north on Illinois and turned east onto Park Avenue East. 

The truck driver told Belcher he realized something was wrong about 100 feet past the intersection, when he realized he accidentally left the boom up too high, Belcher said.

"He said he felt a tug on the vehicle but that was about it, and then he realized what had happened," Belcher said.

"He left it up," Belcher said. "He said, 'I must not have lowered it down.' He said, 'I was working,' and he said, 'I should have lowered it down.' So there was no mechanical malfunction that we're seeing right now."

The boom was raised at least 4 feet higher than it should have been, Belcher said the truck driver told him.

The truck apparently snagged a wire at the intersection of Illinois and Park Avenue East, as a wire was down across South Illinois Avenue.

Lines were down in front of residences on both sides of Park Avenue East, with a snapped pole on each side. 

One residence had wires down in a tree in front of the house.

No one was injured in the incident, and no other vehicles were involved.

"Luckily, the way it appeared is maybe there weren't even any, that much traffic passing him or behind him when it happened," Belcher said.

OhioEdison and Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) are also on scene. The Ohio Department of Transportation is reported to be on the way.

The Mifflin Fire Department and the Richland County Sheriff's Office are assisting on the scene. 

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The fire department was checking the truck's travel path on Illinois, but Belcher said no other down wires had been reported.

Belcher said any possible citations are unknown at this time, as the case is still under investigation.

To check the status of the power outage, visit Ohio Edison's outage map.