from e57 (Mark Heller)

Quote
Didn’t have time to take more photos of the smoke later billowing out the back of the building….

So here’s the story,
POCO Sub-contractor is getting ready to underground this area and is moving transformers to temporary pole, then underground…. Over the few days before this they have been working hot to get rid of the pole beyond the fire truck.

(I’m working in the restaurant where picture is taken from) While working over this period, I often go by and ask when the power is going to drop, because that’s the end of my rough for that time and off to other jobs, so I have gotten to know this crew briefly by name….
This day while doing their swap over of the poles they are moving the service drop across the street, I walked by at lunch and chatted…. About 2 o’clock I heard the roar of fire engines, the first to arrive was the Super whose truck is there on the corner. He jumped out and started yelling at the line crew on the pole. “Get the &^%$ of that pole, you just set the building on fire! I gotta get a ladder in here now!” (At this point there was no smoke yet, except for me who decided this would be a good time for a break and took this picture with my crappy phone) They left one guy on the pole to cut all the stuff they just did, and dropped the bucket as the ladder truck started going up. And sent up gaffs to him in a tool bucket. He was trying to make it though the tree when I took the picture.

I went back to work…. The woman who called, who was trapped in a back room on third floor got out safely, and was the only person at home at the time in that 3-unit. When I was leaving at 4PM the line crew was still there answering questions with the fire dept. One was standing around, so I asked…. Apparently they swapped all the drops while the tranny was dead, Hot neutral reversed on the one building with the ladder on the roof. It set fire to the service, and various things around the building, notably the stairwell. They kept working for about a half an hour after the tranny went back on, not knowing the building next to them was on fire, or that someone was trapped inside until the fire dept showed up…. (They were about to go home) When fire dept vented the roof, you could tell it was NOT a small fire…
BTW this same fire crew was at the 4 alarm, 6 hour ordeal downtown earlier in the day that took out the Bank of America Data Center, very rough day for them.


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