The County Boys were out clearing some drainage ditches on the side of the road getting ready for fall and winter. They have been out there for a week or so working around the power poles without any issues. Well, that changed in a hurry!! Got a call that the county workers had broken a pole. That could mean a few things: it broke at ground level and it still standing, the top broke off and is floating, the middle broke and it’s leaning over, or maybe the bottom broke and it’s leaning over… I guess I will find out when I get there.
Being first to the scene of the accident, it’s my job to make the site as safe as possible. Being that I am by myself I need to be careful not to put myself in any kind of danger.
The first thing I noticed was the wire energized at 14,400 volts was floating in the air. The conductor tie had came off of the insulator during the incident. So that is one BIG hazard that is up and out of the way but the neutral is pinned down and ready to sing-shot up into the air.
Let’s take a look and see what is holding the neutral to the pole that is laying on the ground…
The aluminum strands have been broken and peeled back but the steel core wire is still fine. The conductor tie is still in that mess of wire somewhere and it seems to be the only thing keeping this wire held down.
The wind was blowing pretty hard that day and it is quite possible that it could vibrate off of there. If it did the neutral would sling-shot into the air, slapping against the energized phase wire and cause a power outage.
While I’m waiting for the crew to show up with a new pole, I rigged a rope to my bumper so I could free up this neutral. In order to get it unhooked from the pole and let it float in the air.
Then gently let off on the rope…
And now it’s floating…
After about 1/2 hour the crew showed up with the new pole. Got it all framed up and new hole dug. I grabbed a hold of the energized phase with a hotstick and held it out of the way while they set the pole in the ground and compacted the dirt around it.
All that was left was tie in the energized and repair the neutral wire. I’m glad this one was a easy one because we had a nasty lightning storm headed our way. When I was in the air I could see lightning over the hills.
On the way back in I got another call that the other local power company lost a couple H structures that carry 230,000 volts. Their wire was laying on top of our wire causing a pretty good size outage for both companies.
Confirmed…
Their wire is indeed laying on top of ours…
After doing a little switching we were able to get everyone power except one pump.
The lightning made a few direct hits on their H structures. They lost 3 of these structures in a mile section of line. Them boys got a lot of work to do…
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