No one was hurt when a Dead River Oil truck went off Alna’s Rabbit Path Road and into a ditch January 14.

The driver, Shawn Larrabee of Topsham, reported that he was headed downhill, approaching Route 218, when the brakes didn’t work and he opted to go into a ditch rather than risk going through the intersection, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Hayden said.

“It was kind of a split-second decision but probably a good choice,” Hayden said of Larrabee’s effort to avoid the possibility of a collision.

About an hour into the response effort by a tow truck operator, the Alna Fire Department and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, as well as Dead River representatives, the truck was partly raised out of the ditch and another fuel truck was en route to get the fuel out of it.

Doing so would lighten the truck and help avoid a spill as the truck was uprighted the rest of the way, Assistant Alna Fire Chief Roger Whitney said.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.