Four utility poles and 3 utility lines were ripped from their positions around 2:40pm Tuesday when an 18-wheeler circled around the Elks Lodge on W. Commerce to park for a moment. The accident involved the residential block in front of the Law Enforcement Center at 1050 W. Commerce.
As the driver pulled in and circled around the building, his trailer caught one of the lines, which pulled the 4 poles and the attached lines down.
The 62-year-old Brownwood truck driver was on his way out of town, heading to pick up a load to deliver to Amarillo. The trailer was empty, ready to pick up some Coca-Cola products for his employer TransAm Trucking out of Olathe, Kansas.
After being home for a few days, the driver had packed up and was heading out when he realized he forgot his shaving kit. He telephoned his wife to bring it to him and to meet him at the Elks’ Lodge.
“I didn’t feel it catch, I just saw something hanging from the truck when I stopped,” stated the driver.
In disbelief of his mistake, the driver stated that he had been driving since 1973.
“This is something rookies do, I’ve been driving a long time,” stated the driver.
The damaged lines were telephone, electric and broadband fiber optics lines. Damages to the lines resulted in little utility problems for nearby residential customers. One home had damage to the electric line from the house to the shop building in the back yard and loss of service only to the shop building. Fiber optics lines seemed to be holding up despite being pulled from their poles.
“These Superior fiber optics lines are some tough stuff,” stated Phillip Harris, owner of Harris Broadband. “We haven’t had any calls of outages.”
According to City of Brownwood IT personnel, the fiber optic loop to City Hall was damaged and the network resources were interrupted to the county offices at the Law Enforcement Center. No injuries were reported.
More photos of the damage are below.
