A person allegedly stole a forklift and drove it into power lines in Auburn on Saturday night, knocking out power for about 6,700 Central Maine Power customers in the Lewiston-Auburn area, according to the utility company.
CMP spokesperson Jon Breed said Sunday that it appears that someone stole the vehicle – a type of forklift known as a telescopic handler, or telehandler – from a construction site off Center Street in Auburn. The boom of the forklift became entangled in nearby power lines.
Auburn police said in a Facebook post Sunday that officers are investigating and that the suspects remain at large. No injuries were reported, police said.
Breed said CMP crews restored power to 5,500 customers in about 10 minutes by rerouting power from different sources.
“Power was quickly restored to 5,500 customers after the incident, and our crews are onsite working to remove the forklift,” Breed said in a statement Sunday morning. “We expect power to be restored to our remaining 1,200 impacted customers this morning.”
By early Sunday afternoon, power had been restored to almost all CMP customers, according to an outage tracker on the utility’s website.
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