Friday, June 30, 2006

Downed Wire Safety

On Sunday June 25, 2006, Taftville was dispatched to wires down on Old Canterbury Turnpike. As most of you know I'm a BIG fan of wires down calls, "I just love them!!!" those that work with me know sometimes I make fun of some departments who respond to these types of calls calling them, "a waste of time" or "Bullsh*t" we (Taftville) don't respond to that many wires down but this one was of interest. As you can see in photo #2 a tree branch fell onto some primary electrical wires causing them to fall on the ground. A primary wire was down in the front yard of a house and every once in a while we would see flames coming from that down wired photo#3. I have always had alot of respect for electricity, I still do. If there is any chance of it being energized I'm out of there!! I let the professionals handle it! Once Norwich Public Utilities arrived at the scene,the crew shut off the power to the lines at the breakers and after examining the area we found these interesting marks left by the downed power lines. (Photos 4&5) Thanks to Eric Benoit for the last 2 photos.
The lesson learned is #1 Secure the area and deny entry #2 Stay the hell back as far as possible! (rule of thumb 2 telephone poles away, and #3 let the professionals handle the situation. We don't like it when some puts out our fires so why would we want to play with electricity
Taftville Firefighters keep their distance. Wouldn't you!!!!!

Smoke and some fire emits from the branch and the ground

The energized power line
Evidence of the destructive power of electricity






3 comments:

Q said...

whats your thoughts on house meters?????

Q

Shane Dupuis said...

As a last resort to save a life, you should pull them. In 13 years I have never pulled a house meter and don't plan to pull one anytime soon. We(in Norwich)are lucky because NPU has a strict policy that they will on scene within 30 minutes of any incidents.

Q said...

I was referring to my last fire with the Tribe. Rember the xmas tree fire in the oakdale section. Pike pole vs house meter??? I will at some point post it for you.

Q