UPDATED: Repairs underway, update from Washington City Power engineer

A delivery truck snags lines on 300 West and 100 North cracking the power pole and brings repair crews and firefighters to the scene Tuesday morning, Washington City, Utah, June 26, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

WASHINGTON CITY — An engineer with Washington City Power provided an update on the power outage in the area of 100 North reported after a delivery truck brought the lines down while turning the truck around Tuesday morning.

Update 1:50 p.m. Washington City Power Engineer Rick Hansen said the new pole has been installed and crews are working to complete repairs within three hours. Services should be restored by 5 p.m.

Shortly before 8 a.m. first responders were called to the area of 300 West and 100 North on a reported power pole that was damaged, Washington City Fire Captain Mike Harris said.

Utility pole is cracked at the base after delivery truck snags lines on 300 West and 100 North Tuesday morning, Washington City, Utah, June 26, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Upon arrival responders found a large crack at the base of the wooden pole, which caused it to lean sharply with two power lines resting across the top of the delivery truck.

The power company responded to the scene and cut the power to the lines while repair crews began stabilizing the pole enough to perform an assessment of the damage.

“The repair will be a pretty lengthy process and will likely take most of the day,” Harris said.

The driver told firefighters that he was making a U-turn after realizing he was at the wrong address, Harris said.

While making the turnaround, the top of the truck caught the cable line running below the two power lines, which pulled the entire wooden pole downward until it cracked at the base.

Washington City Power posted the outage on the agency’s Facebook page but were unable to provide an approximate restoral time when contacted by St. George News. Utility repair crews were on scene working on repairs at the writing of this report.

No injuries were reported.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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3 Comments

  • Craig June 26, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    Really sad if people were outraged over an accident.

    • DRT June 26, 2018 at 4:34 pm

      The outrage should be toward the cable tv that was below height. You can see it all over Dixie, where the cable company has put in service drops that are not up to code.

      • Ridic June 26, 2018 at 6:12 pm

        You are very correct as to ge height issue. This actually happened to a driver where I work years ago. It was a little comical because it was a place we delivered to regularly and had never had an issue but wires sag during the hot summer months. The cable company then had the gall to send our company a bill for the repairs. I told my boss we should send them the bill for the repair to our trailer since the wires opened it like a sardine can. I’m not sure as to what the code is but I think wires are supposed to be 15’ or higher in cities to avoid this exact problem.

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