We’ve received several reports of downed power lines causing tree fires, road closures and other hazardous situations.
We spoke to Joe Gallagher with HEA who said they are working quickly to respond to these downed lines.
Gallagher on trees: ” Homer Electric Association continues to respond to numerous outages across the Kenai Peninsula due to this strong wind storm that is continuing to damage the HEA system. At this point we are again responding to several outages and there are many reports of power lines that are on the ground, they have been knocked to the ground by trees.”
He said these lines are extremely dangerous and should be avoided and reported immediately.
Gallagher: “We want to make sure that we advise all our members to stay away from any downed power lines. If you do see a downed power line please remove yourself from the vicinity and call Homer Electric. But again do not go near the power line, you could be, you could receive severe injuries from the power line.”
We also spoke to Brad Nelson with Central Emergency Services who echoed Gallagher in that these lines can cause severe harm to anyone approaching them.
Nelson: “We have had several incidents due to this high wind going on right now. Trees falling on power lines, power lines actually falling down on roadways and driveways. We would really like to encourage people if you witness anything like that to please go ahead and report it to either 911 or HEA, do not approach it, don’t go anywhere near it. The problem is they may look like they’re dead but the lines may have residual power in them and they also send test surges through them once in a while trying to figure out where the power is out. So they may look dead but if you go approach them they may still be powered up. Plus with generators in peoples houses when the power goes out, they may be back fed. So lines, even though they look like that may still be a high danger. Please stay away, and let the people with proper and gear handle all of them.”
