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#61510 01/26/06 09:10 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
Member
A transformer explosion blacked out power to an area of Hartford,CT this morning and forced the closure of Bulkeley High School, and classes will not resume until at least Monday.

Three Connecticut Light & Power workers were doing routine maintenance in an underground power hub that serves the high school and surrounding neighborhood when something went wrong and there was an explosion.

Thick black smoke could be seen billowing out of the building.

A female CL&P worker is being treated at Bridgeport Hospital's Burn Unit. Two other CL&P workers were taken to Hartford Hospital with minor injuries.

As of 4:00, more than 3,000 CL&P customers in Hartford were without power.

Power has been restored to the Maple Ave. area, but CL&P says power won't be restored completely until 8:00 p.m. Right now it's still not safe enough for workers to go back inside the transformer area.

It's unclear right now what happened. Students say they saw the lights flicker, then heard a boom, then the fire alarms sounded. The students and staff were evacuated from the building safely. Students were dismissed at 10:30 a.m.

The school didn't suffer direct damage from the fire, but there is smoke damage that has to be cleaned.

Several other schools were also affected, but they are expected to have class Friday.

Wethersfield Ave. was shut down for several hours, but was been re-opened shortly after 12:30 p.m.

Full Story and Video


My prayers are with the injured CL&P workers that were hurt from this incident... Be safe out there everyone!

Randy

#61511 01/27/06 12:01 PM
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 120
Z
Zog Offline
Member
I wonder what maintenance they were doing? Oil samples? Also I hope there were no PCB's!


MV/HV Testing Specialist, "BKRMAN"
#61512 01/27/06 12:08 PM
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 349
Member
Quote
"People will call it an explosion because when this arc expands and draws, it will give a thud or a bang, but it's not like a hand grenade or a bomb going off - it's not that kind of explosion," says Jim LaChance of CL&P.

Quoted from the linked article - - I'm sure the injured CL&P workers will be comforted knowing this.


There are 10 types of people. Those who know binary, and those who don't.
#61513 01/27/06 01:02 PM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,691
S
Member
Well....

Good thing these guys didn't get killed.

#61514 01/27/06 03:59 PM
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 806
Member
Quote
"People will call it an explosion because when this arc expands and draws, it will give a thud or a bang, but it's not like a hand grenade or a bomb going off - it's not that kind of explosion," says Jim LaChance of CL&P.

Is this guy serious? Has he ever even been around an electrical explosion? (I have) Or even a hand grenade (I have) or a bomb (I have)?

THe forces generated by the explosive power of a high-voltage/current arc can rival the power of a hand grenade or even some bombs.

And an arc contains massive amounts of heat energy, absent in most hand grenades and/or bombs.

Maybe I'm taking his statement the wrong way, but it comes off as if he's trying to downplay the magnitude of what happened.

Just ask the lineworkers involved.... [Linked Image]

I hope the young woman and her co-workers recover from this incident.


Stupid should be painful.
#61515 01/27/06 05:42 PM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 693
L
Member
He's probably never experienced a BLEVE either.


Larry Fine
Fine Electric Co.
fineelectricco.com
#61516 01/27/06 08:10 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 806
N
Member
Typical management twit.. [Linked Image]

Get out there, and put a corporate-friendly spin on things while the "disposable" workers go to the burn ward...

#61517 01/27/06 08:34 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
What, pray tell, is the difference between a fire and an explosion?

Every fire spreads at a given rate. Different things- fuel; oxygen, air pressure, etc...will affect this speed.
For example, even gunpowder burns at a rate so slow a man can easily out run it- IF the gunpowder is laying on the ground! But, contain that gunpowder in something that wll allow pressure to build up, and BOOM!

The "boom" is what we hear when the front of the flame is spreading faster than the spped of sound. A sonic boom. That's what separates a "fire" from and "explosion."

So, yes, an electrical fire can easily become an explosion.

#61518 01/27/06 08:49 PM
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 202
W
WFO Offline
Member
Quote:
"He's probably never experienced a BLEVE either."

I hate to show my ignorance (although, actually, I'm getting quite good at it), but what is a BLEVE? I've been in this business since 1972 and never heard the term.

#61519 01/27/06 08:59 PM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 333
S
Member


Steve
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