JCP&L Emergency Repair Forces Power Outage in Hiawatha Neighborhood

Parsippany Police and Jersey Central Power and Light dealt with a potentially dangerous situation Wednesday afternoon. Live wires were accidentally knocked down on Tioga Avenue, where a township road milling and paving project is underway. Power had to be shut off in the neighborhood for a time to allow utility crews to repair the damage.

Police said a contractor's dump truck involved in the road project accidentally ran into the electrical wires, bringing them down.

No one was injured in the incident, police said.

But someone could have been, if not for good luck, said a township road inspector.

"The wires got stuck on the dump truck, so a guy in the truck grabbed a rake to knock the wires off of it," said Salvatore Poccia. "I ran out, yelling at him and telling everybody not to touch the truck. I mean, those are live wires. Nobody knew if that truck was [electrified]. I yelled myself hoarse.

"He could have been killed. That made me really nervous."

Poccia said the town's roads department, using the services of Tilcon, is repaving a number of streets in and around Lake Hiawatha.