FARMINGTON — A local man safely escaped his old plow truck before it nose-dived into a man-made pond along Meaderboro Road early Tuesday afternoon.
Ross Robicheau of 877 Meaderboro Road was out plowing a relative's pond so it could be used as a neighborhood ice-skating rink when things took a bad turn.
As Robicheau, 41, plowed an area over the middle of the pond, the ice cracked. Leaping out of his old Dodge pickup, he headed for the safety of dry land.
Undaunted, Robicheau maintained his sense of humor after the incident.
"Not even a little bit," Robicheau said, laughing about the truck's lack of amphibious capabilities. "You got to laugh, what are you going to do?"
"It deserves to be in the water more than anything," he joked.
The cab of the truck, which he estimated to be more than 30 years old, was fully submerged, with only the tip of the roof and the truck's bed protruding above the ice.
It was no laughing matter for the emergency responders. Farmington fire, police, and EMS arrived at 915 Meaderboro Road around 12:30 p.m. after being notified by a neighbor of a man in a truck which had gone into a pond.
Additional calls had been made to Milton and Rochester requesting rescue boats, but were called off once it was confirmed no one was in danger, Fire Chief Rich Fowler said.
"(I) urge everybody to be cautious on the ice, even with the cold weather," Fowler said. "It's a good example. You shouldn't be taking vehicles onto the ice until you know it is safe."
As of Tuesday afternoon, Fowler was waiting to hear from Marine Patrol regarding the incident, and whether they would need to investigate or allow Robicheau to use his excavator to remove the truck.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Fowler said Marine Patrol passed it off to the state Department of Environmental Services, which gave the go-ahead for Robicheau to remove the truck himself.
