Fallen tree on power lines shuts down Route 11

By Shawn Cunningham
© Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Chester Fire Department was called out at about 7 a.m. this morning for a tree that had fallen from the hillside on Route 11 just west of Adams Road.

According to Fire Department Capt. Ben Whalen, the tree was laying on the power lines, which were arcing. A Green Mountain Power crew was called and by 7:45 they were setting up traffic control by Church Street.

Whalen said that GMP would be cutting power in order to remove the tree and by 8:15 a.m., the company was reporting 156 customers without power on its Outage Center.

The fire department is advising on its Facebook page that the work will take several hours and that drivers should take alternate routes around the closure.