- Photo by William Tauro

By William Tauro

On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 5, an Nstar crew that was working on secondary utility lines high in the air from a bucket truck at the intersection of Clarendon Avenue at Weston Avenue were put into harm’s way when a spark ignited, creating a flame and causing the Nstar truck to combust into fire.

- Photo by Bobbie Toner

Because the truck’s motor was still running at the time, powering the vehicle’s hydraulic pumps, a hydraulic leak occurred at the same time as a result of the heat from the flame causing the truck to ignite in a ball of flames as the hydraulic fluid was still pumping away.

- Photo by William Tauro

The Nstar worker that was in the truck’s bucket elevated atop the utility pole jumped from the truck and was hanging for his life from the electric utility lines until another Nstar utility bucket truck arrived at the scene to rescue him. As the rescue was taking place, the second Nstar truck also ignited and burned.
A car that was parked on the street below the Nstar truck’s bucket also ignited and burned.
The Nstar worker suffered minor injuries and all three vehicles were a total loss as a result of the incident.

- Photo by Bobbie Toner