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BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY
Staff Writer 03/14/2008

enlarge Staff photo by Andy Molloy

DEEP SINK: Men surround a logging truck and excavator that submerged through the ice on Cobbossee Lake in East Winthrop Thursday. The truck hauling logs across the lake sank Wednesday evening and the excavator, brought in to raise the truck, descended through the ice too. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was at the scene Thursday to contain any fuel spills.

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The truck was soon freed of its icy shackles Thursday morning after being hitched to three skidders, Hickey Tree Service owner Ron Hickey said.

The excavator, however, was another story.

"It was stuck in there pretty good," Hickey said. Workers "broke a lot of cables" getting it out, he said.

Hickey and his employees were taking down trees Wednesday around a camping area on Lake Cobbossee, and crews were bringing loads back to the doomed pulp truck across the icy lake to where the truck was sitting near Turtle Run Road.

Around 5 p.m. Wednesday, after the pulp truck was loaded with logs and branches, Hickey said he got into the driver's seat to drive the truck off the ice.

"I had noticed water underneath the truck, but I thought it was melted ice from the lake," Hickey said.

Then he felt the back end of the truck break through the ice.

"I just sat there and prayed the whole thing wouldn't go through," Hickey said with a laugh.

Hickey called his brother and asked him to bring Hickey's excavator to lift up the back end of the truck.

But when the two pieces of equipment were hitched together, the excavator went through the open ice, as well.

Winthrop Deputy Fire Chief Bob Ouellette said crews worked unsuccessfully until midnight Wednesday to retrieve both pieces of equipment. They picked up again Thursday morning and were able to free the truck around 9:30 a.m., and the excavator in the early afternoon.

No injuries were reported by crew members. The only casualty was a flooded engine on the excavator, Hickey said.

The call was "unusual," Ouellette said.

"When I heard there was a vehicle in the water, I thought someone had driven their car or snowmobile on the ice and broke through," he said.

The possibility of ruptured or leaking fuel tanks raised environmental concerns, and a Maine Department of Environmental Protection employee was sent to assess the situation.

Bart Newhouse, an oil and hazardous materials specialist for the state agency, said no spill was reported.

"There was diesel fuel on both pieces of equipment and quite a bit of hydraulic fluid," Newhouse said. "I'm just pleased with the outcome and that there weren't any spills," he said.

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431 or

mmalloy@centralmaine.com

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