Sheriff's chief deputy to receive lifesaving award after downed powerline incident last week

LACONIA — Sheriff Bill Wright said he is drafting a lifesaving award for Chief Deputy Jim McIntire following an incident last Thursday during which an excavator downed a series of high-tension wires and knocked out power to the area around the county jail on North Main Street. Wright praised McIntire's “efforts of keeping the excavator operator in the machine, despite others telling him to exit the machine.”

County Facilities Director Jon Bossey said the repairs will not come at a cost to the county budget.

“The county would not be responsible for it,” Bossey said.

Security footage shows an excavator with its arm partially raised entering the parking lot of the complex. The excavator’s arm then snags a high-tension wire hanging near the entrance. The driver continues forward, pulling down a nearby utility pole, causing several wires to snap and fall to the ground. After the wires made contact with the asphalt and earth, smoke can be seen. A nearby postal worker then runs toward the sheriff’s office. Shortly afterward, McIntire and Wright emerge from the office, shouting instructions at the operator as smoke billows around the excavator.

“That kid’s lucky to be alive,” Bossey said. “Thankfully, our sheriff’s department, being right there, heard the lines and the pole snapping. When they came out the kid was just starting to crawl out of the cab. They yelled at him to stay in there a good 45 minutes until Eversource came to de-energize the lines and safely remove him from there.”

Bossey explained that the county contracted with the Bauen Corporation of Meredith for repairs and enhancements around the complex. Bauen hired a subcontractor, R&B Services LLC of Sanbornton. According to Bossey, an R&B employee was operating a rented excavator at the time of the accident, and was parking the excavator for pickup by the rental company. The operator came away from the incident unharmed.

Bossey said the complex never lost power throughout the incident.

“We were on generator power during the quick outage, and all the repairs have been made but one,” Bossey said on Tuesday morning.

The Bauen employee supervising the project was not immediately available for comment on this story.

R&B Services offered “no comment at all” about the incident.