Rescue crews freed a man trapped inside a mangled Volkswagen that veered off Russellton Road and smashed into a 90-foot power transmission tower in Harmar early afternoon Saturday.

Medics airlifted the injured driver, a Harmar area man in his early 50s, to a nearby hospital. His name and condition were not immediately available.

The crash caused the Duquesne Light tower to topple onto a set of power lines owned by West Penn Power, knocking out electricity for more than 8,000 combined customers in the Harmar, Cheswick and Springdale areas. Power was restored to all affected customers by shortly after 4 p.m.

“There was a big electrical explosion … the tower destroyed West Penn’s power lines, and now they’re all wrapped together over there,” Harmar police Officer A.J. Yonek said.

Police received a report of the crash shortly before 12:30 p.m.

They arrived to find the wrecked car wedged inside the fallen tower, Yonek said. They could see at least one person was inside and in need of medical attention.

But because of the electrical risks, medics, police and firefighters weren’t able to start the rescue immediately. They had to wait about 15 minutes for utility workers to “de-energize” the power lines in the area and ensure the first responders weren’t at risk.

“We were concerned there was more than one patient — children in the back, is what I was worried about. But he was the only occupant,” Yonek said.

Once cleared for safety, rescue workers cut their way through shrubs and bushes to make a clear path up a short hillside to get to the car inside the tower.

“He’s breathing,” one of the workers called out after reaching the man. Medics strapped him to a patient board and brought him down to an ambulance before loading a stretcher into the medical helicopter. The injured driver was breathing but not able to talk, Yonek said.

Duquesne Light spokesman Matthew McDonald said that within about 15 minutes of its outage, power was restored to about 7,000 customers.

West Penn Power restored electricity to about 1,300 affected customers by 4:15 p.m., spokesman Mike Grandillo said.

Russellton Road remained closed through late-afternoon Saturday as crews worked on securing the area around the power lines. Police were gauging whether there was enough clearance beneath the damaged power lines for commercial vehicles.

It’ll probably take at least several days to install a new tower and repair the damage to the power lines, Yonek said.

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