Emergency vehicles respond to a crash Friday morning on Mile Hill Road in New Sharon. A tractor-trailer driven by Jean Fanfan of Raynham, Mass., lost control of the 2022 Peterbilt he was driving, which struck three other vehicles. Freezing rain caused other crashes in New Sharon about the same time, according to authorities.  Franklin County Sheriff Department

NEW SHARON — Ice and freezing rain caused multiple accidents Friday, as police responded to three separate calls around the same time of the morning.

Franklin County Dispatch started receiving several calls around 9:43 a.m. about a multi-vehicle accident on the New Sharon side of Mile Hill Road, according to a report from Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr.

It was reported that a tractor-trailer truck had crashed into other vehicles. Deputy Austin Couture responded to the scene as well as Deputy Andrew Morgan and Nichols.

Police said Jean Fanfan, 41, of Raynham, Massachusetts, was driving a 2022 Peterbilt tractor-trailer north down Mile Hill Road when he lost control on roads that had turned to ice due to freezing rain. Other vehicles had already begun stopping on both sides of the road, but the truck could not stop.

A 2022 Peterbilt tractor-trailer rests against a Chevrolet pickup and a Subaru, after the driver lost control Friday morning on Mile Hill Road in New Sharon. A third vehicle was also struck in the same crash. The freezing rain Friday morning was also the cause of two other motor vehicle accidents in the area around the same time. Franklin County Sheriff Department

The Peterbilt struck a parked 2016 Subaru Forester, which was in the northbound breakdown lane facing downhill and had been driven by Julie Burdin, 30, of Strong. That collision then caused the truck to veer to the opposite side of the road, eventually driving its nose into a deep ditch. As the truck was doing that, its trailer pivoted 180 degrees and struck a 2015 Subaru that was parked in the southbound breakdown lane facing uphill and had been driven by Nancy Lloyd, 62, of Falmouth.

Lloyd was standing outside her vehicle and was on the phone when the truck’s trailer slid sideways into her vehicle. Lloyd dove for the ground as the trailer box passed over her body, striking her vehicle. The trailer also hit a 2008 Chevrolet pickup that was parked behind Lloyd’s vehicle. The pickup had been driven by Wyatt Campbell, 16, of Phillips, who was also out of his vehicle along with his father, Ruben Campbell, 53, of Phillips. Ruben Campbell was struck by the trailer and thrown to the ground.

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New Sharon firefighters, assisted by Chesterville firefighters, responded to the scene. NorthStar Ambulance sent three ambulances to the scene. Rome Fire Department assisted by shutting down Route 27 from Rome Corner, stopping all northbound vehicles.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was called to the scene to clean up fuel that had spilled from the tractor-trailer. The town of New Sharon sent a road crew to spread sand and to help first responders in their efforts to access the crash scene, which was made difficult because of the icy road conditions.

Not connected to the tractor-trailer accident, but occurring simultaneously, Nichols responded to a single vehicle accident also traveling north downhill on Mile Hill Road. Katherine Cloutier, 60, of Topsham was driving a 2012 Dodge Avenger when she lost control of her vehicle, spun 180 degrees, going off the road’s northbound lane into the ditch. No injuries were reported.

State Police assisted by covering a third accident, which occurred at roughly the same time as the other crashes, further south on the Rome side of Mile Hill Road involving an SUV that had rolled over just before the Hampshire Hill Road intersection.

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