Bad service.. from both the power company and 911.

[bean]

I am just flabbergasted at what I've been through today.

High winds, somehow, managed to bring an entire power pole down inside my apartment complex. The lines aren't quite on the ground, but they're only about 5 feet off, and arcing up a storm inside a tree, and the tree has been burning off and on all day. These are 7,200 volt lines, and every time there's a serious arc, a fireball shoots up from the lines/tree and my power goes out for about 30 minutes.

I figure, hey, power lines being down, shooting sparks, and a tree on fire are an emergency, right? I call 911. They literally cut me off and say "Not our problem, call Oncor" (the local electric delivery company) and hang up.

Oh.... kay. I call Oncor, who's closed on weekends, but manage to find an option in their menu tree to get through to an operator. "You need to call 911". I point out 911 told me to call them.

This whole thing repeats itself a few times until a neighbor calls the fire dept in a neighboring city directly, and they show up. They block the area off, but state there's nothing they can do until Oncor cuts the power for good. That's very understandable.

So far my power has gone off more than 12 times since noon, the tree has been on fire off and on during the day, and every appliance I own except my PC has let the "magic smoke" out, and most of my light bulbs either burned out or exploded.

I tried to lay down around 5pm for a nap. It's now 9:15pm - tree is still on fire, I just heard another really loud BZZZZZZZZZZZZAPPPPKABOOM from outside, and the fire dept (again, from the neighboring city) is out here, again, and the fire dept is EXTREMELY frustrated with Oncor as well. They can't even approach the tree because the ground around it is energized.

The lines started sparking 2 weeks ago after we had a big snow storm, according to a neighbor who lives right next to the tree, and she's been calling Oncor pretty much hourly since then.

In short, screw Oncor, and especially screw Dallas 911. Both are pretty much useless.

[Absenthius]

Don't you know? It's not an emergency until at least 3 people have died. It's just so much easier to pass the blame around after all the houses in the neighbourhood have burned down and a couple of kids are killed by electrocution than to actually do something to prevent it happening in the first place.

[50 mission cap]

I am surprised to hear this...most power companies have an emergency crew for these situations and work hand in hand with the fire dept on these matters to cut the power. I dont blame you for being upset. Keep us posted please

[LionMan]

If the utility company won't respond, call whoever regulates them and make a complaint. They'll come quickly then, usually.

[Hyndis]

Odd. Most utility companies respond EXTREMELY quickly for any sort of emergency like that, even a potential emergency.

I had a gas leak some years back. I was able to smell gas around the meter thingy, and could hear a faint leak.

I called them up, basically said that I smell and hear a gas leak, they asked me for my address, and said someone will be right there.

They had a guy show up within 20 minutes to fix it.

Turned out it was a small and harmless leak, particularly as it was outside so no gas could build up, but any gas leak is bad news.

Similarly, power lines on the ground arcing and taking down the local power grid and setting trees on fire is also bad news.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If the utility company won't respond, call whoever regulates them and make a complaint. They'll come quickly then, usually.

This. There should be a utilities regulatory board or some similarly-named agency that oversees the utility companies in your state.

[Merriweather]

I tried to lay down around 5pm for a nap. It's now 9:15pm - tree is still on fire, I just heard another really loud BZZZZZZZZZZZZAPPPPKABOOM from outside, and the fire dept (again, from the neighboring city) is out here, again, and the fire dept is EXTREMELY frustrated with Oncor as well. They can't even approach the tree because the ground around it is energized.

The lines started sparking 2 weeks ago after we had a big snow storm, according to a neighbor who lives right next to the tree, and she's been calling Oncor pretty much hourly since then.

In short, screw Oncor, and especially screw Dallas 911. Both are pretty much useless.

Before someone gets electrocuted and the whole complex ends up homeless with no belongings, go call the nearest TV station - a good story with lots of good interesting videos of fire and sputtering electrical wires, they'd eat it up. AND I guarantee that'll get the electric company out quick so they can be seen fixing the problem !

[MaggieTheCat]

I'm more appalled by the lack of response from 911. If electrical wires sparking and burning a tree aren't considered an emergency, I dunno what is. Who do you complain to about 911? That's who I'd be going after.

[HYHYBT]

Right. "My power is off" is not 911's problem; "there's a tree on fire and sparks everywhere" is.

[bean]

Well, Oncor showed up for about 5 minutes.

They put rubber covers over ONE of the wires, the middle one. There's 3 phase service in this area, and the overhead lines are carrying 7,200 volts (stepped down to 240/120 single phase at the apartments) - meaning there are 3 very, very live wires tangled up in the trees right now. So now there's no phase to phase shorts, but the lines are still bouncing around in the trees and still making a lot of pretty sparks... just not enough sparks to knock the power out anymore (still making my lights flicker a little).

Plano FD has been showing up every couple of hours since their initial call, even though we're not in Plano (my apartment complex is about 1/4 mile outside of Plano, inside of Dallas). I just woke up to a diesel engine idling outside my window, and sure enough, it was a fire truck from Plano.

As of right now, the only things that still work in my apartment are a few lights, fridge, my computer/router/modem (all of which are on a hefty surge protector/UPS), and my stove/washer/dryer (my oven doesn't work anymore, since it's electronically controlled and took a nasty hit from the surge, but the stove is still working fine). I assume the dishwasher still works since it has zero electronics, but haven't tried it.

Total damage so far.. 1 LCD TV (32" Toshiba), 1 HDTV DVR cable box (Motorola, leased from Time Warner Cable), 1 regular TV (generic 19" CRT in the bedroom), alarm clock, everything related to my aquarium except for the light (which wasn't on at the time), alarm clock, charger for my camera plus the battery it was charging at the time, most of my lights, my ceiling fan in the bedroom, microwave oven, and the list goes on... even the digital thermostat for my ac/heater got fried. I put the old analog thermostat back up and my ac/heat still works with that, at least. Also, the surge protector I had on the tv and cable box went up in smoke, and even the power supply for my burglar alarm crapped out. The alarm is still running on the backup battery, which should last for several days, but I need to find a new transformer for it. The bedroom TV still turns on and gets channels, but only shows 1 color now (green).

To make things amusing.. the light inside the microwave still comes on when I open the door, and the display keeps flashing "PLEASE PRESS CLOCK". The clock button makes it beep, but it doesn't do anything. All buttons make it beep, but nothing works and the light on the bottom won't come on (it's an over the stove style microwave). Only a year old too.

I'm.... a little less than pleased... but really glad I have good renters insurance, which should cover everything minus $250. And the apartment complex can worry about replacing the stove/microwave.

As for the entire complex winding up homeless, the lines mentioned are actually the lines from the substation to the (large, 250+ unit) property. The pole that's affected is where the lines transition from overhead to underground. There's really not much risk of (building) fire from it aside from the surges that the phase to phase shorts have caused. Some dumbass still parked his car directly under the lines today though.

I took this photo right after the power went out for the first time today, tree hadn't get started smoking, but the lines kept touching each other and arcing pretty bad. It's a very, very bad idea to even glance at something arcing since there's a TON of ultraviolet radiation in the arcing (which will damage both your eyes and your camera equipment), so I'm avoiding that part of the complex now. Notice the middle pole is leaning against the fence and how low the wires are (that's a 2 story apartment building in the neighboring complex in the background).

edit: they've done absolutely nothing to reinforce the pole.. it's braced only by the fence and tree at this point. Worthless bastards.

[Chromatix]

That is actually quite shocking. (Pun-wise or otherwise.)

Looking at the photo, I reckon that if they had a well-organised emergency crew, they could kill the power, cut the tree down, shove a new pole and wires in, and be done with it inside of a day.

But they really should have killed the power full stop, as soon as they were notified. Simply putting a rubber band on it, N hours later, just isn't good enough.

[Andara Bledin]

Frelling damn, but your power company is just begging to have their asses sued off!

I second the suggestion to call up your local news crews. If it's not completely fixed in the morning, call them up and let them know they've got a great opportunity with high voltage, and potential fire. Camera crews love things on fire. It's even better if there are kids somewhere nearby.

And definitely call up whoever the regulatory boards are for both the electric company and your 911. One question: is that 911 through your land line or your cell line?

One of the power poles near my work fell over one morning shortly before my bus dropped me off at my stop. I ended up having to take a detour around nearly the entire city block (1 mile, square) to get around it to my workplace. They had it fixed before lunchtime.

^-.-^

[Golden Phoenix]

Hurk! *Chokes on a mouthfull of coke* WTF?!

What the flying spahgetti monster are the power company playing at?!

I work for a power supplier, we don't even handle the wires and if someon reported something like that to *us* and it wasn't fixed we'd get our backsides sued from here to mars.

I second causing a stink about this. Call the regulating bodies for the power company and 911 and also call the local paper. If possible get an even larger paper interested. It's a human interest story, potential loss of life due to the negligence of a large and to much of the public's view, evil company and through the failings of the 911 system. They'll be all over it like white on rice.

[Pagan]

Oh, weren't the winds just lovely? I know we had gusts up to around 60mph here and my mom said that they clocked a few of around 80mph in El Paso on Friday.

Definitely get on the phone to the regulatory commission. NMPRC can, will, and has gone after companies for not doing what they're supposed to do.

I am surprised to hear this...most power companies have an emergency crew for these situations and work hand in hand with the fire dept on these matters to cut the power. I dont blame you for being upset. Keep us posted please

El Paso Electric, even with being one of the most jacked-up electric companies ever, has an awesome emergency team. (That's if you can get past the idiots on the phone that aren't aware of the power being out in the first place. )

my computer/router/modem (all of which are on a hefty surge protector/UPS),

Regardless of how good a surge protector you have, I'd still unplug all of that until things are fixed.

I'm.... a little less than pleased... but really glad I have good renters insurance, which should cover everything minus $250. And the apartment complex can worry about replacing the stove/microwave.

I would think that the power company should pay for everything. Shouldn't even have to go to your insurance. They've know about the problem for how long and haven't done squat?

[bean]

Heh, I actually grew up in El Paso, my dad still lives out there. I miss Chico's...

Power has been stable since they put the rubbers (lol) on the lines - they also put a fiberglass stick of some kind between them to keep them from bumping uglies anymore. But, the pole is still leaning against the wall/tree, and the trees have not been cut back - when I got home from work a few minutes ago, I could still see the limbs arcing every time they brushed the lines. And yes, LOTS of kids in this apartment complex.

Andara Bledin, I don't have a landline.. cellphone only. But Dallas 911 is able to receive the address that my phone is registered to when I call, which is my current address.

TX PUC will definitely be notified, and I'll snap some more photos tomorrow of the "fix". The "fix" only addresses the phase to phase shorts, and not the fact that the trees are most definitely electrified (the leaves are starting to fall off and the grass around them is starting to die too).