Julien St-Jean

Mun. of Pontiac August 21, 2021

More than 10 firefighters from the Municipality of Pontiac fire department arrived to the scene of a Saturday evening car accident, in which a driver had gone off the road and struck a hydro pole.

Fire chief Kevin Mansey said the driver had been travelling west on Hwy 148 near Ghost Hill, but lost control. He added that he had been out of the car by the time firefighters arrived at the scene, but was later taken to the Gatineau hospital.

“The car was flipped over on its roof and two hydropoles were down,” said Mansey. “He hit the pole and the force of the impact snapped one and the shaking snapped the other.”

Mansey said the fire department closed off the road completely for between 15 and 20 minutes until it was safe. Then, they reopened one lane and directed traffic.

During the road closure, someone opened Mountain road without permission from the municipality. Mountain road has been closed since August 1 and is under construction. Excavators on the site were moved

“Somebody took it upon themselves to operate some serious heavy equipment,” said Mayor Joanne Labadie. “Someone could have gone through the site 10 minutes after and not known. We could have had a lot of consequences.”

Labadie added that firefighters were “verbally accosted” when they arrived to block and close down the road.

The official scheduled reopening for Mountain road is Oct. 5, but Mayor Labadie and Councillor Scott McDonald say it is possible that it will reopen ahead of schedule. Until then, the road remains closed and under construction.