CAMBRIDGE — A tractor-trailer truck loaded with tree-length logs crashed through the side of the Cambridge General Store, the town’s only retail business, early Tuesday.

No one was injured, but the store on Route 150 sustained extensive damage, and a parked car was destroyed by the rolling logs, according to police.

Additional Photos

Brenda DiMeo carries a child while she and family members survey the damage to their Cambridge General Store after a loaded pulp truck lost control and crashed into the building around 4 a.m. Tuesday. No one was hurt, but the store on Route 150 sustained extensive damage, and a parked car was destroyed by the rolling logs, said police. Staff photo by David Leaming

There’s a sharp corner right before the store, and driver John Watson, 50, of Solon, appeared to have been traveling too fast, Lt. Detective Carl Gottardi, of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, said in a prepared statement.

Solon told police thick fog kept him from seeing the intersection until it was too late to stop.

“It was frightening looking at it. It’s an awful thing to see a truck down like that. Thank God the driver was OK,” store owner Brenda DiMeo said.

DiMeo opened the business at 7 Main St. with her husband, Dan, and three sons, on Feb. 13.

Son Tony DiMeo heard the tires screeching around 4:30 a.m. while sleeping in his apartment next to the store.

“He thought the driver was dead,” Brenda DiMeo said. “We didn’t know if it was going to blow up the building.”

Another son, Jeremy, was in the apartment above the store with his two daughters. They left the building quickly and were not injured.

The driver, however, was trapped in the truck, and rescue workers used the Jaws of Life to free him, Gottardi said. Watson did not appear to be injured but was taken to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan as a precaution.

The 2006 Kenworth truck, owned by AS&CB Gould & Sons Inc., of Cornville, lost control while heading east, Gottardi said. The truck struck the store after it tipped over, sliding inside the store’s cooler room. The logs from the trailer smashed into two cars in the parking area, Gottardi said. A 1999 Jeep was destroyed. The other car, a 1988 Dodge, received minor damage, Gottardi said.

The logs flew out “like torpedoes,” DiMeo said.

“I’m just glad nobody was hurt,” said Michael Gould, owner of the trucking company. “That’s the main thing.”

Last week, a 12-year-old girl was killed when a tractor-trailer truck carrying sawdust crashed into a YMCA minivan in Farmington. In July, a 5-year-old boy in Jackman was killed when a logging truck crashed near his home, sending its logs through the house.

Brenda DiMeo said she had not yet received an estimate on damage to the store, but she assumed insurance will cover it. Before they opened it in February, her family refurbished and insulated the old building.

Patti Dowse, who bought the building at auction and is selling it to the DiMeos, said the sharp corner has been an ongoing issue.

Years ago a logging truck crashed into a grist mill in the same location, Dowse said. It was demolished and removed.

Then, in February, a car struck the store’s cement steps and door on the side of the building during a chase.

Dowse, who owns Erda Leather in Cambridge, a deerskin handbag company, said she hopes the store can be repaired and open for business soon.

“It’s the only store in town,” she said. “It’s been really the only thing that made it a town.”

Somerset County deputies Don Avery and Mike Ross responded to the accident. Cambridge and Harmony fire departments, and Maine State Police also assisted.

Ross is still reconstructing the accident, but Gottardi said initial findings indicate that speed might have been a factor.

Erin Rhoda — 612-2368

erhoda@centralmaine.com

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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