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Storm knocks out power to nearly an entire town as Maine digs out from storm

66,000+ CMP customers were without power as the sun set Saturday

FRYEBURG, Maine — Andy Dufresne was quite a busy man on Saturday.

The Fryeburg Fire Chief was leading emergency response efforts after the first snowstorm of the year. 

He had been at work since the day before the snow started and had been fielding calls since before sunrise Saturday, as nearly the entire town had no electricity. 

As of 6:00 pm, Central Maine Power reported more than 66,000 customers - 10% of its total customer population - were still without power; though that number was declining as the evening progressed. 

22,000 of those customers were in Oxford County. Fryeburg sits on the county's western border with New Hampshire. A handful of trees rested on power lines and hung over route 302, a busy road between the two states.

Dufresne said the town was expecting major amounts of snow. They were surprised by just how heavy the snow itself was as it fell.

"Temperatures being where they’re at, and the weight of the snow on the trees and the infrastructure, caused bit of damage," he recalled. "It almost had the qualities of an ice storm."

The firehouse itself lost power around 1:00 am. Dufresne said its generator could last a week if need be. Others don’t have that time, but he said his town is taking care of each other.

"It does weigh on you; you get tired," he said. "It’s been a  long day; we’re on about a 38-hour shift now. But, we’ve got a great team of people here in the town."

He said warming shelters were available and CMP would be working to get the highest priority buildings - including a nursing home - back online first. But many more hours of work and darkness loomed.

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