Pickup strikes pole, cutting power in Buffalo Township
BUFFALO TWP — No one was injured, but much of the township lost electrical service shortly before noon when a pickup struck and knocked down what appeared to be a rotting telephone pole in the parking lot of a store on Route 356.
The pole, owned by an unspecified telephone company, had electrical wires on it, said West Penn Power spokesman Todd Meyers.
The truck driver, Dan Ishman, 44, of South Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, was at the True Value hardware store to pick up lumber.
“He told the officers he was backing up and he tapped a pole and it came down,” said Buffalo Township Police Chief Tim Derringer.
Power was lost to an estimated 2,000 customers, Meyers said. A West Penn Power crew arrived quickly and, with the exception of the store, all service was restored in about 30 minutes. The pole will have to be replaced.Ishman said he wasn't going fast and didn't see the pole.“I didn't even feel I actually hit it,” Ishman said. The back bumper of his Ford F-350 hit the pole.“I saw the pole starting to move,” he recalled, “and I just pulled forward. It already came across the cap, and just missed me — not by much.”The cap was knocked off and damaged, but the truck sustained only a scratch or two.Derringer said the pole was “rotted” and it snapped at the base. Ishman also remarked that the pole was “completely rotted out.”The accident knocked out power to “the majority” of the township, Derringer said, which included all but one traffic light. A portion of the road also was closed for about an hour.Derringer said Ishman was not cited.
