A Day With A Lineman #2 ~ Pole Fire
adaywithalineman·@jlsplatts·
0.000 HBDA Day With A Lineman #2 ~ Pole Fire
<div class=text-justify> It doesn’t happen too often but sometimes insulators just fail. The electricity will *bleed* over and make contact with the pole. Then overtime the electricity will find a ground source and start arcing. Then before you know it, the pole has been put on fire. The flames make their way down the cracks of the pole and in the bolt holes. Then finally the electricity finds a good enough ground to completely ground out and cause a fault. Often times resulting in some sort of explosion.</div> ### <center>Welcome to Another Episode of...</center> ### <center></center> I find it funny how just a few years back I was at this exact pole changing out this transformer during a voltage conversion. Converting from 7,200 volts to 14,400 volts - Raise the voltage, lower the Amps. Anyway that’s enough electrical theory talk and to be honest it has been a long time since I have even thought about Ohm’s Law. Things have been pretty quiet as of late when it comes to outages and accidents. Which is a good thing but doesn’t really give me any material to share with you Hive junkies. Then on Sunday morning I received a call that the top of a pole burn off and wire is laying across the road. <center>Well... This should be a good one.</center> Due to the “Stay Healthy Stay Home” initiative in Washington State my Bucket Truck is now parked at my house. This not only helps response time but saves me a little $$ on fuel costs driving back and forth to the shop *:wink:wink*. Upon arrival I noticed that indeed the wire wasn’t “laying” across the road but the wire was sagged down pretty good. Then looking to my right I saw this.... <center></center> Well that sure is nice. The pole top is hanging on the street light service wire. The Phase wire is still connected to the pole top and the pole is burning around the bolts that hold the transformer on the pole. <center></center> First thing I need to do disconnect this tap from the mainline. Then head up the road to the circuit breaker and re-energize the rest of the people who were out of power. Now there is only one person without power instead of 20-30. I need to find a way to get up to this pole and put the fire out. A couple other Lineman are on their way but I would like to have this fire put out before they get here. The wind was blowing about 10 mph, so it was fanning that flame pretty good. The pole sits up on a pretty steep hill so access is pretty limited. The homeowner gave me permission to attempt to drive my bucket truck up this grassy hill to the pole. We had a decent amount of rain the night before so I wasn’t too confident my 17,500 pound bucket truck could get up to the pole. After 2 tries I called it quits and tried a different route around the house and through the field. I warned him I might leave some decent marks in the grass and he said it was no big deal, the grass will grow back. <center></center> That didn’t work out too well either. Things were just slimy enough that I couldn’t quite make it to the top. Just as I thought *“Oh Ya!!! I got this!!!*.... the tires began slipping and momentum lost.... dead in the water. I tried several times from different angles with no luck. Well it looks like I am gonna have to climb this and put the fire out with my 1 liter water bottle I have in the cab of my truck. Since “Fire Season” is over, I don’t have my Indian Can on my truck anymore, but I do have a 5 gallon water jug for drinking water... <center></center> Just as I was pulled up to the pole and got out two other Lineman showed up. I gave them a quick tailboard on what was happening, where the line was open and grounded. <center>*”Let’s get this fire put out then we will come up with a game plan to repair it. Things are just too slick to try and get the Digger Derrick up there to change the pole.”*</center> Now let’s get this straight. I am not “old” by any means. These two guys are just younger than me is all. Here, how about this... *I have a few more years in the Hooks than these boys do* *:winkwink* So while my Boy Cheeze-it is slapping his tools on I am preparing our homemade fire extinguisher... a 2 liter plastic bottle with a hole poked in the lid. The hole makes it so when you squeeze the bottle you can shoot water in the cracks and holes in the pole. This will make sure that the pole won’t ignite again. I have had burnt poles on a trailer that we thought were out, then ignite as I was driving down the road. While Cheeze-it is putting the fire out I began making a new pole top. I told them to grab an old crossarm from their shop before they left for a reason. It is going to be a temporary pole top until things dry out or we bring an excavator in to change out the pole. It took them a little bit to understand what I had in mind but soon enough they caught on. Being involve in big storms when there are several million people out of power, you learn how to “*Make it Happen*” in order to get those lights back on ASAP <center></center> Drill a few holes, bolt the cutout (Basically a fuse holder) bracket to the crossarm, add an eye bolt to what will be the top, and a couple holes in the pole and this new top is ready to be installed. <center></center> Here is what we think was the cause of the pole fire. The porcelain cutout must have developed a crack in it over time. The electricity began leaking through it to the metal bracket and to the pole. Then it finally got to a ground source and faulted. Then it blew apart and started the pole on fire. <center></center> There we go, a new pole top installed, new cutout, and the wire pulled up and sagged, this pole should last another 20 years. That is just an ongoing Lineman joke that comes out whenever we build something Redneck style. All jokes aside, I think it turned out really nice and the customers power was back on only 4 hours after I received the call and plus I had to drive 45 minutes to get there... <center>Not bad... Not bad at all</center> <center></center> Thanks for stopping by and checking out another Episode of A Day With A Lineman. Sometimes you gotta get a little creative in order to get those lights turned back on. At least there wasn’t a huge mess to clean up... <center></center> <center>Until Next Time... https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jlsplatts/UJxqqsZt-01AB59B3-A7E4-408A-A6F7-0BBAFCBA41E6.gif <sub>[Source](peakd.com/@derangedvisions)</sub> Hive On and  Stay Safe Everyone Alway Report Downed Powerlines To Your Local Utility https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jlsplatts/UDSf4bgK-B6B2CFEF-22BB-46EE-B672-CB6B97B48046.gif</center>
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