Wires down or burning

[nonameFF]

What is everyone's opinion on responding to wires down or burning calls?

We can't do a thing.
We often end up doing police work (traffic control) that we are not "qualified" to do.

Why should we respond at all?

[BucksEng91]

I was on a crew once that actually had to control a grass fire caused by a transformer fire (with the leaking fluid dripping on the ground).

There is always the distinct possibility that wires down or burning will cause a fire somewhere else, especially in built-up areas where there may be extra exposure problems.

[ADSNWFLD]

Wires down are a serious hazard, someone has to sit on them. I would prefer the police or emergency management, but we are the best equiped to be a first responder to these emergencies.

[DrInferno]

Unfortunatly we can't do anything for the most part but babysit the scene and protect people from themselves. We attended a transformer fire that had exploded and splashed a couple of vehicles, police are on location first and what happens next? The officer sticks his fingers in the material and feels its texture and then takes a sniff. Oh hang on thats only P.C.B.'s turns into a haz-mat call with the ground having to be removed and the vehicles had to be decontaminated and repainted. So once again the underpaid and understaffed F.D. can be beneficial to identify hazards that other organizations are not prepared or trained to deal with.

[BFD196]

We handle wires down, and transformer calls all the time, usually during storms. Upon arrival we get a pole number for dispatch, they contact the power company, then we sit and wait, sometimes for several hours. The bad part is, during a storms with so many rigs sitting at those calls, there`s a delayed response to other incidents. Thank God for mutual-aid.

[ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: BFD45 ]

[firefightermatt]

I dont think the fd needs to respond to powerlines down or burning unless there is something other than the line or transformer burning it is a waist of time and delays the response time to more serious calls.

[BG204]

When we respond to powerlines down, we get the pole number if possible, notify the power company, secure the scene and wait. Once the power is off to the area, we extingush any fire and turn the scene over to the power company. If the lines are down from a storm, the wait can be a while. Sorry to say, but, the Fire Deparment is the emergency catch-all.

[hctrouble25]

All we can do is babysit...but our job is to protect property and lives...so that is why we are there. Should those wires start a fire, hit a home, hit a person, etc. we are there and ready to assist. That is why we get called out. Same thing with MVAs. My department is the exception because we do the extracation, but even without entrapment we respond in case the car catches fire, the EMTs need help lifting, etc. We are all there to do the same job...save lives and property..why is this so hard for people to comprehend. Just like all the bs mutual aid fighting about who gets what call. Who cares? As long as the job gets done that is what counts. The reason the cops don't direct traffic? I don't know. But we have fire police for that reason and they do the traffic directing at all our calls. It works out well for us, and the cops stay out of our hair.

[SFD13]

At this time of the year a downed power line will usually cause a grass or brush hose. A downed power line is one of those crappy calls. If you start to pick and choose the calls you responded to then it's time to find a new job.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

We respond to all wires down/wires burning calls to scope out the situation, make sure that the appropriate personnel (Mass Electric/Verizon/ATT Broadband) are contacted and to make sure that the wires do not pose another hazard. If there is a delayed response by the utlities, they will hire a police officer at detail rate to await their arrival.

[Dalmatian90]

We often end up doing police work (traffic control) that we are not "qualified" to do.

Doesn't take much time to learn! And in our area, we are primary traffic control for most incidents we respond to, and even occassionally get called specifically to assist the very thinly stretched State Police with traffic control and nothing else.

Any ways, yeah, they can be pain in the butts. Normally we no longer role apparatus. First officer arriving in POV sizes up, calls back to the station for how many people, what supplies (cones), and where for them to go.

Depending on the situation it can be
Notify utilities and...
-Set up manned road blocks -- 2 people, a POV, and a Portable radio (local roads)
-Set up manned road blocks w/apparatus (busy roads/highways)
-Set up cones & scene tape (usually when it's really big storm and we're stretched to thin to guard them and utilities start giving their ETA in days, not hours...)
-Find no hazard, take no action.

We also clear trees blocking roads w/ no wires involved -- at least wide enough for a fire truck to get by, even if the rest is left for the town highway crew to clean up. Hard to fight a fire if you can't get to it.

[nonameFF]

I just wonder about the liability aspect of directing traffic if there is an accident.

Also, if the wires cause a grass fire, do you fight it with the live wire on the ground? Sounds like a recipe for electrocution.

[Dalmatian90]

No liability, at least in CT. We have the authority to do so, and it's hard to imagine how you could act more negligently directing traffic then leaving a hazard for someone to drive into.

Sec. 7-313e. Authority of fire officer during emergency... when any fire department or company is responding to or operating at a fire, service call, or other emergency, within such municipality, have the authority to: (a) Control and direct emergency activities at such scene...(c) blockade any public highway, street, or private right-of-way temporarily while at such scene;...

(subsection (a) by the way is incredibly powerful, and establishes FD predominance on all incidents over all other agencies in CT -- though common sense says let the police be in charge when it's mostly their incident and we're just helping. But under 7-313(a) that big red truck shows up, that officer is now in charge of everyone unless he yields it.)

Also, if the wires cause a grass fire, do you fight it with the live wire on the ground? Sounds like a recipe for electrocution.

Yep, gotta stay well away. And try to wait for utilities.

We have one stretch that was notorious for very active arc-welding of the pavement on a regular basis. Insulated tree wire so the conductor didn't actually touch the ground usually. Used giant Ground Fault Interupts on the 3 phase instead of circuit breakers 'cause a plant 7 miles up the road would trip breakers when they started up. Between insulated wire & GFIs, the fire works would last 30 minutes or more. One day a metal barn and a house 150' away had arcing from the metal to ground and from every appliance to ground just off the induced electric field. Scary call. Two weeks later, a power company truck burned up while trying to repair the line in front of the same house -- line fell, arced a hole in the diesel saddle tank. Whooosh. Linemen jumped for their lives as their foreman shut down the GFIs.

[hctrouble25]

Had wires down in a tree - the wire snapped and was so hot it was causing little fires up in the trees. We stood by waiting for the GPU truck to come shut down the power but they had a 45 minute ETA. So we just stayed there with the Troopers and chatted. Next thing you know some guy comes out gets in our Chief's face and starts yelling about how we are the Fire Department and we should be putting the fires up in the trees out. 1) there were no residences within 100 feet of the pole and wires, and 2) the wires were live! Our Chief handed him a water can and said "those wires are live, and would fry you before you even got within 5 feet of them...but if you are so concerned about the fires up in the trees that are putting themselves out then here have it." The guy left and that was that. We were doing our jobs by securing the scene, and not endangering anyone there. That is all we can do.

[Hosekey21]

What would be the Chief's next move if the guy takes the can and heads over to put out the little fires?