LYNN — A fire broke out early Wednesday afternoon on 1147R Western Ave. after a large truck struck a powerline near a commercial building, leaving the driver temporarily trapped until first responders quickly arrived on scene.
District Fire Chief Joseph Zukas, who was on scene in response to the incident, explained the situation. There were no reported injuries to the driver or the first responders.
“A truck was loading or unloading a dumpster and it was overhead electrical wire that the driver hit, a live, energized wire hit the building,” Zukas said. “He was trapped in the vehicle, and ended up calling 911 himself.”
Zukas said the driver was instructed to stay in the vehicle until first responders arrived on the scene so he would not risk being electrocuted by the live wire.
“When we arrived, there was a fire that extended into the building, so we had to go into the building and open up some walls to extinguish the fire. We also had to call National Grid to cut the power off from the building,” Zukas explained.
Zukas said it was a relatively small fire. Three engines, three ladder trucks and a medic truck were on the scene after a working fire was ordered.
“We don’t know what’s inside the commercial building, we didn’t know if there were solvents or flammables, everybody was out of the building when we arrived, so life safety was not an initial issue at the beginning,” he said.
