A propane delivery truck rolled over on an icy Sunset Cove Road the morning of Monday, Jan. 17, but the driver was not hurt and there was no propane leak.
“The road was just a sheet of ice,” Harpswell Neck Fire Chief David Mercier said. When the truck from M.W. Sewall attempted to climb a hill near the beginning of Sunset Cove Road, it slid backward, off the road and into a ditch, rolling over and striking a tree.
The ditch was about 8-10 feet deep, according to Mercier.
The delivery truck was full, although Mercier did not know how much propane it carries. “We approached it as a potential hazmat incident,” he said, like any crash involving a propane truck. In this case, the tank survived the crash intact.
Authorities shut down Sunset Cove Road as a precaution, to avoid another vehicle sliding off the road and into the truck. There are no residences in the area of the crash. Sunset Cove Road branches off Harpswell Neck Road south of the post office.
The call came in at 7:34 a.m. and authorities stayed on scene for more than 3 1/2 hours, until a wrecker righted the truck. The truck was operable, Mercier said, despite “substantial” damage. “They did drive it out onto the roadway,” he said, where it was loaded onto a wrecker and hauled away.
In addition to Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue volunteers, the two town firefighters responded from the Orr’s Island Fire Station. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine State Police Commercial Vehicle Unit also responded to the crash.
