Gidday Scott,
In any sort of surreal world, can you imagine a crew of Liney's throwing a bare wire over the 11kV or worse still 66kV lines to effect a disconnection before starting work?.
Not only would the explosion be huge and cause major arcing to the lines in question, but it would cause a really bad health and safety risk.
With the advent of re-closers, there would be no guarantee that the line would stay dead either.
You electricians have it so easy. [Linked Image]