madshutterbug: (c)2009 by Myself (BullWinkle)
[personal profile] madshutterbug
Well, we had power, starting around 19:27 yesterday evening. Oh, and certainly no later than that, phone service restored as well.

Ruthann saw sparks and bright light at the transformer pulling in from SCA yesterday evening, right around 21:30 plus/minus. We eyeballed the situation (there'd been no dimming of lights or other signs in the house) to find a light tree limb across the lines & touching the transformer.
I called it in, switching through to the dispatcher. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I need to report tree limbs on my power lines, and on my transformer, which was sparking and quite spectacular.

Dispatcher: Do you have a fire?

Me: No. If I had a fire, I'd have called 911. I have tree limbs on my lines, causing the transformer to spark.

Dispatcher: Sir, it's quite normal for transformers to spark and such right after the power comes on.

Me: I know that. I've seen it before. What I'm trying to tell you is I have tree limbs on my transformer, which is not normal.

Dispatcher: Do you have a fire. Because if you have a fire, you need to call the fire department.

Me: No fire. I'm trying to prevent a fire. I have tree limbs on my transformer.

Dispatcher: Sir, it's quite normal for transformers to spark and such right after the power comes on. It will just trip the breaker.

Et Cetera.

This morning at about 06:10 as I reached into the shower to turn on the water...
A loud POP outside, not far from the house...
The lights went off.

I called CFEC and reported my power out.

Update edit: 09:22 Just off the phone with Ruthann; turns out there's a laurel oak, which I noticed yesterday evening overhanging but not touching the lines before power came back on, leaning into the lines today. This is probably what tripped the breaker on the transformer. The remainder of our neighborhood still enjoys power. Couldn't see much at all this AM on the way out at oh dark thirty, as thick fog amplified darkness to an incredible amount.

Archer, up the road from us about five miles and on a different feeder branch, is still at least one-half without power.

Date: 2004-09-29 07:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fatfred.livejournal.com
Does Tetsuo have power?

Date: 2004-09-29 07:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madshutterbug.livejournal.com
Yes. It's apparently just us, and because either our transformer blew following that light branch on it, or because of the laurel oak now leaning into the lines. Probably the latter, since he did say they had a brown-out about the same time our power went out this morning.

Date: 2004-09-29 07:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fatfred.livejournal.com
Keep safe.
Wish I could see y'all this weekend, but I really understand.

Date: 2004-09-29 10:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] starcat-jewel.livejournal.com
Oy. 'Bout the second iteration on that, I'd have requested a supervisor, since the dispatcher obviously didn't speak English as a first language. And I'd have said it that way, too.

Date: 2004-09-29 11:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madshutterbug.livejournal.com
I thought about it. However: I'd established the phone call to the Co-op, I can prove the phone call and time through my phone bill if the place caught fire, there wasn't any active nastiness going on at the time, and finally pretty much everyone around here has some degree of (shell)-shock going on anyway.

So either I erred on the side of being too kind, or I opted to not suffer a fool I couldn't do much about anyway... not sure which, to be honest.

Customer service today , , *sighs*

Date: 2004-09-30 05:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snookum.livejournal.com
I hope you get power back soon, it'd be understandable if you called back in to the power company and thanked them for the follow up on your report, , but then again, , they'd probably send you an extra bill for tying up their operator, ,

Re: Customer service today , , *sighs*

Date: 2004-10-01 04:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madshutterbug.livejournal.com
Power: we enjoyed the fruits of the 21st C by the time you commented, Snookum. Wednesday evening, in fact; SWMBO called in to check on the work order during the day, and explained to the Day Dispatcher just what transpired the evening before. Tree limb taken off the lines, transformer checked, power on by 19:00.

It's been quite the lesson on how thin the line is between 21st C and, say, late 19th / early 20th C, eh?

Archer's Power

Date: 2004-10-01 11:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chaosloki.livejournal.com
Most of Archer's power is provided by Clay Electric. As of today, they still had over 6,000 customers without power. Do you think I'm surprised?

Re: Archer's Power

Date: 2004-10-01 11:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madshutterbug.livejournal.com
Um, no, and Been Thinking About You, and trying not to gloat... too much.

Though now Archer looks like it's mostly restored. South of the Community School, between Archer & the left-turn dirt road, it's still dark because of a pine tree hanging on the wires just outside town.

Do you think I'm surprised?

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