By Louis Porter
After a few hours of work the new pole replaced the broken one, and the job was done—and the number of WEC members out of service dropped by one household.
The outage on April 16 and 17 was caused by an unusual event. After all, tornados don’t touch down in Vermont that often, and this was the only one to do so in April over at least the 75 years that solid records have been kept.
This meant the outage itself was somewhat unusual as well. Within just a few minutes, the storm, and the tornado it brought, cut a path across a part of WEC territory, with most damage occurring on either side of Route 14 in Williamstown and extending to Jackson Corner, fortunately barely missing our substation there. Winds up to 90 miles an hour blasted trees, ripped a roof off a barn sending it into the branches of a maple tree, and sending WEC’s outage numbers from zero to nearly 1,400 in just a few minutes. While that night and the following day saw a handful of outages in other parts of our territory, it was the path of the tornado that caused the largest number of problems and loss of service.
In other ways, it was an outage like many others the Co-op has experienced over the years. Despite a long night and day, line crew members were working with their usual dedication and attention to safety when I got the chance to get out and see some of their efforts first-hand. I know WEC members appreciate the care and the friendliness with which line workers go about the difficult and sometimes, it must be said, dangerous work of cutting trees, repairing lines and replacing poles, because I hear messages of thanks from members regularly, as do others who work here. But I am not sure that members always know how many hours those crews have been out, and with what precise care they need to do their work, no matter how long they have been afield.
And one trouble spot struck me as a classic Co-op section of line. Along a stream-carved gulch, the line runs along a steep and wooded hillside, with several spans of wire to serve a single member’s house. The storm had brought a large pine down, knocking down not only the power line but snapping the pole off at about 8 feet. Because of the location, no truck could reach that pole, so the crew brought down one of WEC’s tracked vehicles, which looks a bit like a snow cat which can carry a pole, dig a hole where necessary, and lift a new pole in place in spots that would seem inaccessible to any normal piece of equipment.
Replacing such a pole safely is a significant undertaking. The three-man WEC crew did it with efficiency and, most importantly, following the procedures in place to protect themselves, their colleagues, and the public. After a few hours of work the new pole replaced the broken one, and the job was done—at least until the next storm—and the number of WEC members out of service dropped by one household.
Although the cause of the largest chunk of outages was a rare event, looking at the history of the outage a few days later, it did not look all that different than others WEC and other rural electric providers experience. Some additional outages came in over the next few hours, but the entire event was less than 24 hours long. By then, line crews were heading into the weekend tired but happy to have another storm, although an unusual one, behind them.