By Lisa Wilcox
Staff writer
CARIBOU — Employees of Chand Eisenmann Metallurgical on Armco Avenue in Caribou got quite the surprise at approximately 1 p.m. Monday when a runaway vehicle slammed into their building.
Aroostook Republican photo/Lisa Wilcox
Members of the Caribou Fire Department clean up a diesel fuel spill after a vehicle owned by John T. Noble slipped out of gear and rolled into the Chand Eisenmann Metallurgical building on Armco Avenue in Caribou on Monday afternoon. No one was injured in the mishap.
The manual-shift truck, owned by John T. Noble and operated by Basil Little, 39 of Caribou, was unattended and parked at Big Cheese Pizza on South Main St. when it apparently slipped out of gear and rolled across South Main and down Armco Avenue into the Chand facility. Luckily, the driver-less truck didn’t encounter any other vehicles as it rolled across the usually busy street and there were no employees present in the part of the room that the vehicle struck, so no one was injured.
“It certainly could have been a lot worse,” Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan said of the incident.
Along with the police department, the Caribou Fire Department also responded to provide cleanup of diesel fuel that spilled from the truck. The vehicle was loaded with what appeared to be construction equipment and had a utility trailer in tow.
According to Harold Dubay, general manager of Chand Eisenmann, other than some shelving, no equipment inside of the building was damaged. Employees who were there when the incident occurred were sent home and the business shut down for a few hours to clean up and to ensure the structure was structurally sound. After the building was secured, Chand was back in operation for third shift on Monday evening.
“Given the situation, we couldn’t have had a better outcome,” Dubay commented. “No one was hurt and we are back in operation. We appreciate the quick response of the Caribou PD and fire department and contractor Graydon Ouellette to help secure the building.”
Dubay also commended vehicle owner John Noble for his quick response after he was notified of the accident. Noble was not available for comment at presstime.
