A Wiscasset Fire Department training exercise turned into an actual emergency Wednesday night when a rear wheel sheared off the ladder truck.

On June 10, one of the loose tires bounded to the opposite side of the road where it careened into a parked car, smashed out the rear window and hit a utility pole causing an hour-long power outage.

No one was injured in the freak accident that happened around 7 p.m. on the Gardiner Road. The southbound fire truck was returning to the station following a training run when, without warning, the two-tire wheel on the rear passenger side came off the axle.

The firefighter at the wheel of the truck managed to safely steer the vehicle off to the side of the road opposite the Little Village Bistro Restaurant while one of the wheels continued bouncing across the road.

Wiscasset Police were on the scene within minutes and firefighters assisted at the scene by setting up traffic control. The accident shutdown the south bound lane for about an hour.

The car damaged by the loose wheel was unoccupied, parked in the restaurant’s parking lot. The same wheel landed on and snapped an anchor cable on the utility pole next to the car causing the power outage. The outage affected all of Langdon Road and a portion Gardiner Road including the Wiscasset Quik Stop and Little Village Bistro. Central Maine Power had power service restored by 8 p.m.

The vehicle referred to as Ladder 1 is one the older trucks in the fire department’s fleet. It was towed from the scene to the Town Garage by Blagden’s Towing. A damage estimate was unavailable Thursday morning.