Fallen power lines put school bus in jeopardy Driver heralded as hero after ‘freak accident’

CALAIS – School bus driver Harry Jordan was being hailed as a hero Monday.

A downed power line almost turned two fun basketball wins into a tragedy Saturday night, and Calais High School basketball coaches and staff were praising the Laidlaw Education Services bus driver for his steady foot and good defensive driving.

The Calais Blue Devils boys varsity and junior varsity basketball players had just walked away with wins against their Houlton counterparts. It was around 5:30 p.m., and the team was returning to Calais on U.S. Route 1. About 25 people were on board, including players and their coaches. The bus had passed through Danforth and was headed toward Brookton when the incident occurred.

Junior varsity head coach Marcia Rogers, who was in the front seat, described what happened:

“We were just going along and there were gusts of wind. The road was wet, but it was just kind of misty-wet. All of a sudden [Jordan] said, ‘Whoa,’ and he slammed on his brakes and he stopped. He didn’t lose control of the bus at all,” Rogers said.

“I had barely enough time to look and react and he had that bus stopped. He wasn’t even scared,” she said.

A hot wire had landed within a few feet of the bus. Sparks were dancing along the ground. “I got the bus stopped within about five feet of the power line,” Jordan said.

The high winds had caused a tree to snap and topple onto power lines.

Jordan said he knew he needed to back the bus away from the live wire. Rogers got out to assist and was helping Jordan back up when all hell broke loose.

“I saw the tree on fire, and then all of a sudden the transformer exploded, and as it exploded the light was just all over the sky. Then there was more fire, and then the utility poles started snapping off. The wires were coming down,” Rogers said. “I thought I was going to die. I was outside, and the wires were coming down everywhere and all the sparks and fire. I started to run like hell.” She said she jumped into a ditch on the opposite side of the road and continued to run.

“It was a miracle that those utility poles didn’t fall across the bus. I don’t know why it didn’t happen,” she said. “But Harry had backed the bus up enough to get away from them.”

Jordan, who has been driving a bus since 1994, said that once the bus was out of harm’s way, he pulled to the side of the road to make certain everyone on board was safe.

A car that was behind the bus also had stopped.

The JV coach got into the car, and she and the driver went for help.

Fire departments from neighboring towns soon arrived and secured the area. Once the situation was deemed safe, Jordan was told he could turn the bus around and leave.

“He was able to back that bus up and turn it around. There were high ditches on either side of that road with guardrails, and he had about 8 inches to work with,” Rogers said.

They had to take the long way home. “We went back to Danforth and took Route 169 up to Kingman and came on Route 6 through Springfield,” Jordan said.

Rogers marveled at Jordan’s cool demeanor under fire. “He’s my hero, I can tell you right now,” she said.

Union 106 Superintendent Jim Underwood had nothing but praise for the bus driver Monday. “I have an absolute relief that everyone is safe and our kids are safe,” he said. “I don’t want to think about what could have happened. It’s just too terrible to even think about. He saved the lives of everyone on that bus. He is a local hero, I would say.”

Eastern Maine Electric Co-op public relations spokesman Charlie McAlpin called the incident a “freak accident.” He said the utility company had done a lot of work along Route 1 cutting trees and replacing poles. “Basically, what happened is a huge tree fell from outside of the line right of way onto one of the power lines. That broke the first pole, and then power lines and phone cables started a chain reaction to the next two poles.”

He said the poles were in good condition. “It’s really kind of a freak thing that there happened to be somebody right there. How often do you see a tree fall, much less a power line?” he asked.