A bucket truck flipped onto its side near 1374 Old Fall River Road in Dartmouth on Monday evening, trapping its driver inside the cab as multiple crews raced to the scene. The man was pulled free alert and conscious, then rushed to a local hospital, while spilled vehicle fluids forced a cleanup crew and state environmental officials to the crash site.
Dispatch Call Sends Crews Racing to the Scene
Dispatch received the call just after 7:45 p.m. for a rollover crash in the area, according to Fall River Reporter. Multiple crews responded to the Bristol County crash that night, and when Dartmouth Fire District 3 arrived, they found the bucket truck resting on its side with its only occupant trapped inside, per the outlet's reporting.
Firefighters worked to free the trapped driver, and the outlet's account states that one patient was extricated and was alert and conscious at the time of the extraction. He was then transported to a local hospital, though his name, age, and condition beyond that point have not been released.
Spilled Fluids Draw In State Environmental Officials
As crews worked the crash, fluids from the vehicle spilled out onto the road and had to be cleaned up, the report notes. Mass DEP was called to the scene to address the spill, and the crash remains under investigation, with no further details yet released on what caused the truck to roll over.
Rollovers involving bucket trucks have turned up elsewhere in the region in recent months. In March, a worker suffered serious injuries when a bucket truck tipped onto its side and into oncoming traffic on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, according to Boston 25 News, which reported that the injured person was in the bucket of the truck at the time and that a Toyota RAV4 was also damaged. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation closed part of Memorial Drive in response, that report said.
A separate incident in Keene, New Hampshire, saw a utility bucket-truck driver hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after his vehicle rolled over several times on a Saturday morning. Boston 25 News reported that New Hampshire state police identified the truck as a 1996 International utility vehicle owned by BGWN Services of Milford, and said it experienced a serious mechanical malfunction while traveling south on Route 12 before flipping. No other vehicles were involved in that crash, and the truck was placed out of service due to extensive damage, according to the same report.
No details have been released on what caused Monday's rollover in Dartmouth, whether any other vehicles were involved, or what charges, if any, may follow once the investigation concludes.
