HERMON, Maine — The back side of Bouchard & Sons Towing looked more like an auto graveyard than an impound lot Wednesday after 20 to 30 smashed-up vehicles involved in a massive pileup on Interstate 95 were hauled there.
The company’s headquarters at 12 South Gate Drive off Emerson Mill Road, which straddles the Hermon-Hampden town line, served as a staging area for Maine State Police troopers who spent much of the day documenting the damage incurred during what police called perhaps the largest crash of its kind in Maine history.
“We went out this morning about 7:30, and we were going out to get one tractor-trailer that had jackknifed. Ever since then, it just turned into complete chaos,” Nick Bouchard, whose father owns the business, said Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the last of the vehicles involved in the crash were removed from the highway.
“Then they pulled us on the accident scene itself and then when we got there, it was a big pile of metal,” he said. “I mean, there was a truck folded in half. There was hoods off vehicles, there was axles blown all over the place. It was chaotic. We’re just glad everyone’s OK, and that’s the biggest concern about anything today.”
It was not business as usual for the towing and auto repair business.
“On a typical day, we pull about three or four trucks. Nothing too crazy,” Bouchard said. “My father, Wayne, he said out of 25 years that he’s never seen anything like this. This is just like a scene from a TV show.”
Bouchard said 20 or 30 vehicles involved in the pileup ended at Bouchard & Sons Towing.
“There’s two or three different other companies that probably towed them back to their yards, but the state police wanted to use us for a staging area,” he said.
Trooper Tucker Bonnevie was among the state police officers working to sort out the mess.
“Basically the crash was just so big that we’re getting all the vehicles as much as we can to one area,” he said.
Bonnevie and fellow Trooper Stephen Morrell said the accident was the biggest one they had dealt with so far.
“It’s the worst I’ve seen. Absolutely,” Morrell said, adding that those involved were “certainly lucky” to have survived.