Author -

FIRST WEEKEND ON CALL

The very first weekend i was on call we had a storm blow threw and knocked a line off on the north side of our system where most of the irrigation wells are. We rode the line out and found our problem we had a phase burned down. Earlier that morning we had to bypass the reclosures that fed that line because the line would trip off because the reclosures were to small for the load. When we got to the junction pole to kill the line out the journeyman started tooling up to go up the pole. I told him i would do it but he said he had better because there might be a problem. When he got up there he noticed the jumper was lose in the hotline clamp. When he went to pull it off the jumper broke out of the hotline clamp swinging over into the other hot phase. Knowing he had to get it off he pulled it off and that was the biggest fire i have ever seen. It went half a span before dying out. I couldnt even see the journeyman for the fire. Luckily he wasnt hurt just a little hot.