This Doesn't need to happen?

[CPOPE]

Why dodn't they just pull the meter themselves? I've often wondered why fire departments don't drop services themselves with hot stick cutters. Have seen them on working fires with services still energized. Just a GD shame, we have some rural areas where it will take an hour or more to get a troubleshooter on scene depending....... Is it a stupid idea to give your local fire department instruction on how to de-energize secondary?.........

C.T. firefighter electrocuted in cottage blaze!
January 8, 2010 (NewYorkInjuryNews.com - Injury News, Work Related Fire Fighter Deaths)

A firefighter was electrocuted by an electrical wire while battling a blaze in Branford, Connecticut.

Branford, CT (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) – A two-cottage fire on Lanphiers Cove Road injured one firefighter in Branford Tuesday, January 5, 2010, according to New Haven Register.

A witness who saw the climbing flames from the town dock located at Branford Point reported it at 2:58 a.m. Responding firefighters arrived at the scene where one of the summer homes siding and exterior wall was already visibly damaged. One firefighter was crawling through water underneath the cottage when a live electrical wire struck the water and electrocuted him.

The firefighter, identified as John Massey Jr. was transported via ambulance to be treated by doctors and nurses at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Medical officials reported that Massey’s injuries were minor. The two cottages were unoccupied at the time of the blaze since both residencies were summerhouses.\\

Lousy reporting electrocuted means dead, hart stopped. This was a shocking not an eletrocution.

[Pootnaigle]

I have often wondered he same thing. Our local fire dept automatically makes a call when they receive a report of a fire........... Often its a vacant house with no service to it period.On more than one occassion I found where they had opened the fingers on a CT meter and thought they had the svc dead.These same bozos are the ones to make the decision as to whether service can be restored once the fire is tapped out. I've seen em leave an entire family in the dark when one simple breaker could isolate any future problem. I know these guys are touted to be heroic and stuff but based on my experience they sure aint too brite.I've also seen em do thousands of dollars in water damage when the initial fire did less than a few hundred.They fear everyhing they dont understand and electricity is one of em. I see em as neither brave nor heroic.

[BigClive]

I think giving them power line tools is probably a bad idea, and opens up a whole layer of liability. As Poot says, these self styled heroes are not always terribly bright.

[LINCRW]

I'd say its a bad idea to give the fire dept any tools beside what they need to do their job. Leave electric work to the pros.

Around here, the fire dept only knows two things: 1) Pour enough water on it and the flame goes away 2) If the flame doesn't go away, must not have enough water on it yet.

[CPOPE]

I think giving them power line tools is probably a bad idea, and opens up a whole layer of liability. As Poot says, these self styled heroes are not always terribly bright.

Agreed, not always bright, but I'd say they are going to hold the utility liable for slow response, Dammed if you do dammed if you don't

[Highplains Drifter]

I think giving them power line tools is probably a bad idea, and opens up a whole layer of liability. As Poot says, these self styled heroes are not always terribly bright.

Like this Clive?

[hotrod]

Like this Clive?

only a "SUPER LINEMAN" would have that on his back glass.

[Highplains Drifter]

only a "SUPER LINEMAN" would have that on his back glass.

Actually that is on one of my ape's truck, and your point is?

i'd love to be a part of something bigger then just the company you work for. I agree to almost everything I read about the union.

This is the safety section of the forum, if you want to heckle me please take it to the Politics and BS section and leave these threads to saftey.

[loodvig]

In the area that I worked we had many, many locking meter rings. (tamper proof) So unless every fire truck had the tool to unlock it they had to wait for us to show up. As far as the service burning up and blowing the trans fuse. Not all companies fuse every transformer! One fire I went to I had to dump/kill a 4160v feeder because a ladder truck had it's ladder 12" above the primary!

[topgroove]

In the area that I worked we had many, many locking meter rings. (tamper proof) So unless every fire truck had the tool to unlock it they had to wait for us to show up. As far as the service burning up and blowing the trans fuse. Not all companies fuse every transformer! One fire I went to I had to dump/kill a 4160v feeder because a ladder truck had it's ladder 12" above the primary!

I here ya Loodvig. I've had to kill the primary a bunch of times. Many times they'll position there arial baskets above the primary with their water cannons. Other times flames from the fire reached into the primary. I worry about all the CT metering we have, A fireman could pull the meter thinking its dead and put everybody in danger. Sometimes the fire is so intense the channel is ready to melt... who knows whats gonna happen when you pull the meter.