People get stuck on the bridge quite often around here during the summer.  But they don't usually mean it literally. Thursday, July 1, somebody did.

According to Wareham Fire Department Chief Robert McDuffy, at 2:57 p.m. a truck from E.L. Morse Lumber traveling east on Main Street in West Wareham became wedged under the railroad bridge just west of the intersection with Tobey Road.

McDuffy said that the driver was transported from the scene to Tobey with lacerations on his elbow but did not characterize the injuries as serious.  There were no other vehicles or individuals involved.

Nevertheless, the incident attracted many.

Police rerouted traffic around the site.  The truck, an 18-wheeled boom truck according to E.L. Morse owner Jim Bruce, was leaking hydraulic oil, so members of the Fire Department lay down quick-dry absorbent and blocked off storm drains that emptied into the nearby wetlands while supervised by Town Health Agent Bob Ethier and Andy Jones of MassDEP.  J &R Towing deflated the trucks tires to tow it out of its trap. A track inspector from Mass Coastal Rail, which crosses the bridge at least four times a day, evaluated the tracks. And many onlookers snapped photos.

McDuffy estimated that about ten gallons of hydraulic oil - which Jones described as similar but a bit thicker than motor oil - was spilled.  There was no water contamination, as the spill never reached the storm drains.

Bruce said that in 40 years of owning E.L. Morse, he has never had an accident like this happen and said that the truck was totaled. Bruce didn't know how tall the truck was.  The bridge's posted clearance is 11-feet-six-inches.

According to Mass Coastal Rail Track Inspector Mike Medeiros, the tracks were obviously damaged, but that a more complete evaluation of the bridge would be undertaken by the state, which owns the structure.

"We'll wait till everybody leaves to do a complete evaluation," he said.  "But there's damage, you can see it from up top, the tracks are pushed up."

Josh McKee of J&R Towing said that the bridge averages about one stuck vehicle a year and that the latest incident occurred last summer.