Author -
Submitted By -All Hell Broke Loose
My name is Dale Looper. I'm a troubleshooter for the Ohio Edison/First Energy Co. The other day A call went out of an explosion and no lights at this commercial site. When I arrived, I found a cut out door hanging on a bank of 120/208 volt 12.5 KV transformers. There was a dead bird under the pole as well as a mini van parked next to the pole. Everyone was standing outside waiting for the power to come back on and I asked to have the van removed from the pole area. I did not want to drop the fused door on it. The owner was on a call so the van had to stay. So instead of using my telescoping stick I decided to use my bucket. I refused the door and examined the transformer bushing where the bird made contact. There a a mark on the bushing, but everything looked ok. My partner that day, Ron Hopkins showed up. He stood in the clear as I closed in the cutout. All hell broke lose. A ball of fire engulfed the whole top of the pole as well of an explosion and a stream of oil that was on fire blew out the bottom of the can and caught the van, pole and asphalt on fire right now. It startled me at first and then I opened the other two cut outs so we would not cross phase the other two cans and catch them on fire. My main concern then was to get down and get my bucket away from the fire before my truck caught on fire. Employees of the businesses and Ron got the fire extinguishers and put the fire out. The van was burnt up and oil was everywhere. The fire dept. showed up and we got some high-dry and made dams to control the oil spill. There was no stickers on the cans saying that they were tested for PCB's, so we had to perform as if they were. The crew showed up as well as the claims man for our company and the oil-spill coordinator to test the oil. There would have been a good chance that if I would have had to climb that pole that day, I would have been killed or at least burnt real bad. The oil and fire came down the pole so fast that even with a telescoping stick, I feel I would have been burnt. The lesson learned here was not to stand under a can when closing it in. Whether it be a cut out or a switch on a csp. A close call for sure.