SOUTH PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) — It was a rough start for a brand new $1.1 million fire truck in South Portland that got fried by power lines during a routine training.
The South Portland Fire Department was testing a new fire truck Tuesday morning in the parking lot of their station. While raising the ladder, it hit power lines on Skillin Street causing the truck's tire to catch on fire.
The three firefighters that were training with the truck were not injured and extinguished the tire fire.
The surge of electricity also caused the aerial controls of the truck to short out so firefighters could not move the ladder that they received in early October, out of contact with the power lines.
CMP had to shut down power to the street while the Fire Dept. moved the ladder to a spare garage bay.
Officials from the South Portland Fire Dept. say engineers from the factory that manufactured the truck will assess the damage. In the meantime, the station will be using the 1996 ladder truck.
The City of South Portland is conducting an internal investigation as to how this incident happened, what steps need to be taken to prevent it from happening again, and any other actions that may need to be taken due to the seriousness of this event.