AUBURN, Maine — Thousands were left without power in the Lewiston-Auburn area early Sunday morning after police say a forklift was stolen and entangled in overhead power lines.
The Auburn Police Department said on social media unknown subjects broke into a storage facility construction site located in the area of Turner Street and Center Street overnight into Sunday. Police said the subjects "took a forklift for a joyride through the site," extended the forks of the forklift, and entangled them in overhead powerlines.
This resulted in a power outage around 3 a.m. that affected roughly 6,800 customers, according to Central Maine Power.
Police said those involved in the incident were still "at large" as of noon Sunday.
Central Maine Power spokesperson Jon Breed told NEWS CENTER Maine power was restored to approximately 5,500 customers within 10 minutes of the outage. Breed said this was possible by using switches that are used to control the grid remotely, which are part of an ongoing effort to reduce outage time.
Power was restored to remaining customers around 9:30 a.m., Breed said.
No injuries were reported. The incident remains under investigation.