FRYEBURG — A New Hampshire man escaped injury early Tuesday morning when the 18-wheeler he was driving collided with a tree that fell across Route 302, Police Chief Joshua Potvin said.
Potvin said the 31-year old man, who was not identified because of a Fryeburg Police Department policy to not identify drivers who are not charged with crimes, was driving on Route 302 at 1:55 a.m. when he struck a large tree that had fallen across the roadway.
“Fortunately, nobody was injured in this crash,” Potvin said, adding that there were “no streetlights on this section of roadway, making it nearly impossible to avoid collision with the downed tree.”
The truck, based out of Mashpee, Massachusetts, was unloaded at the time of the crash and was en route to Casco to pick up a load of wood chips, Potvin said.
He said the truck began to leak diesel after striking the tree.
“After confirming the driver had no injuries, our second concern was containing the diesel fuel leak in close proximity to Manchester Brook, which leads to the Saco River,” Potvin said.
The Fryeburg Police Department contained the spill until the Maine Department of Environmental Protection arrived on scene.
The Maine Department of Transportation later removed the tree from the road and “tended to damaged guardrails,” Potvin said.
Route 302 was closed for about five hours while officers investigated the accident, he said.
A 31-year-old man escaped injury early Tuesday morning when his tractor-trailer struck a tree that had fallen on Route 302 in Fryeburg. Police Chief Joshua Potvin said there were no streetlights on that section of Route 302, which made it difficult to see the tree.
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