A TRUCK carrying a crane created havoc on the Warrego Highway yesterday, causing a grass fire and blacking out 3700 Ergon customers.
The truck apparently brought down six sets of high-voltage overhead powerlines over a 15-kilometre stretch of the highway and side roads.
Emergency services stopped highway traffic after a large grass fire was sparked from one of the fallen lines west of Charlton at 1.30pm.
Lines were also brought down on the Kingsthorpe-Haden Road.
Police are unsure if the driver was aware of the mess he caused and his identity was not known yesterday afternoon.
Oakey Police officer-in-charge John Cook said witnesses told police that the vehicle had a crane on top of the truck.
¡°We will be investigating further to establish the whereabouts of the driver and see whether any offences have been committed,¡± Sergeant Cook said.
Queensland Fire and Rescue Service incident controller Grant Hodges said the fire on the highway was originally reported as a road traffic crash.
Station officer Hodges said that when his crew arrived on the scene, about 1.30pm, it was obvious that wasn¡¯t the case.
¡°We located powerlines down and a fire with a 150 metre fire front,¡± he said.
¡°Because the grass was green, the fire was producing heavy smoke which was blowing across the highway form the north-east.¡±
Station officer Hodges said firefighters and police blocked the highway until the fire was brought under control about 2pm.
The downed powerlines resulted in power supply interruptions to about 3700 customers in Kingsthorpe, Boodua, Goombungee, Gowrie, Meringandan, Jondaryan, Maclagan, Bowenville, Quinalow and Oakey.
Crews expected to have power fully restored by 5pm.