About 40 minutes later a repair crew arrived and sorted the problem out. The whole process took about an hour and a half as there were three line breaks, where the surge of electricity from the lightning bolt had burnt through the cables.
Linesman climbing the utility pole with special clamps attached to his boots.
The linesman attaching his safety harness above the crosspiece. The break in the power cable can be seen in the top left hand corner of the photo. The cable burnt through before the breaker switch could kick out. The breaker switches can be seen in this photo just behind the linesman.
This happened at three other pylons in a row. Before climbing up the utility pole the linesman and his assistant had isolated this section, further down the line by pulling the breaker switches, which are situated at strategic points along the power line for this purpose.
Inspecting the break. The rain did not seem to bother him in the least. When I asked him why he was not wearing a raincoat he said it just gets in the way while he's climbing and trying to work.
Repairing the break. The new piece of cable needed to repair the problem come pre-prepared, cut to length, and with the necessary fittings needed to attach it to the high tension cable. Took this photo through my lounge window.
These repair crews are on call 24/7 and 365 days of the year, day and night in all weather. A tough job and they do it well.
2 comments:
Not the kind of work for me, thank you!
Or me! Last year while taking my dog for a walk early morning, I saw a couple of dozens wood pigeons taking off all at the same time from a power line like that one when the wires touched! The whole area was blown out! It took the man a lot longer to arrive in his van with the cherry picker, harness and helmet!
Post a Comment