We were without electricity for some hours in the early hours of this morning, after a thunderstorm.
The local paper described the situation thus:
A BUILD up of dust and debris sparked a power pole fire this morning, causing about 700 local Powercor customers to lose their electricity supply.
A Powercor spokesman said the pole fire started about 3.30am at the corner of Sparrowhawk Road and Stray Street, Long Gully.
Power was restored to affected residents about 8.40am.
"It looks like the cause of the fire is what we call pollution," the spokesman said.
"It's basically dust and debris and other things, that during a dry spell, get caught up in the poles.
"When we have light rain like we did overnight, that stuff gets wet and makes contact with the conductor.
"That then sparks and starts a small fire which then causes a short and affects the power."
The power outage caused some traffic signals to stop working and police were called to divert traffic at Creeth Street and Eaglehawk Road.
Power technicians are believed to have replaced a cross arm and insulator on the power pole that was damaged by the fire.
What a refreshing expert witness that spokesman would make!
The local paper described the situation thus:
A BUILD up of dust and debris sparked a power pole fire this morning, causing about 700 local Powercor customers to lose their electricity supply.
A Powercor spokesman said the pole fire started about 3.30am at the corner of Sparrowhawk Road and Stray Street, Long Gully.
Power was restored to affected residents about 8.40am.
"It looks like the cause of the fire is what we call pollution," the spokesman said.
"It's basically dust and debris and other things, that during a dry spell, get caught up in the poles.
"When we have light rain like we did overnight, that stuff gets wet and makes contact with the conductor.
"That then sparks and starts a small fire which then causes a short and affects the power."
The power outage caused some traffic signals to stop working and police were called to divert traffic at Creeth Street and Eaglehawk Road.
Power technicians are believed to have replaced a cross arm and insulator on the power pole that was damaged by the fire.
What a refreshing expert witness that spokesman would make!
No comments:
Post a Comment