A young woman escaped injury after the red Toyota SUV she was driving failed to negotiate a curve on Hillside Road in South Deerfield, emergency personnel said, striking a utility pole and causing a loss of power to several homes on Monday afternoon.
The force of the impact snapped the pole about half way up, sending the pole with utility wires and an electrical transformer onto the roadway blocking it and causing the oil-filled transformer to catch fire. South Deerfield Police and Fire responded to the scene, extinguishing the fire and closing the road from North Main Street to North Hillside Road until utility crews could remove the wires and pole. A wrecker was called to remove the vehicle.
Mineral oil from the transformer mixed with light rain caused a rainbow oil slick extending down the roadway from the crash.
A neighbor emerged from her house offering umbrellas for the driver and workers on scene. Police on the scene sited speed and a wet roadway as causes for the crash.
