Author - cliff

Submitted By - Big Dog Was sent out to patrol sub-transmission(69kv) line in Pinal county. Control center said they had tested the line and couldnt get er to hold after a big wind gust had gone thru the area. When I got to the site of the broken pole, I noticed that the conductor was the only thing holding the pole up. Only problem was it was leaning on an adjacent (115) line, CONDUCTOR ON CONDUCTOR,  owned and operated by another company. Apparently it caused interuption on their circuit also. I was given a switching order to isolate the section of line and once I had a couple of gang switches opened up, next step was for control center to remote close breaker heating up the source side of the opened and tagged gang switch at the substation which included the lightning arrestors attached at the busswork. Our switching procedure states that all Linemen must be in the clear when breakers are being operated remotely. After breaker had been closed for about two minutes or so, I headed for the gate at the sub. I had just about got the chain through the gate and suddenly BAAAAAM! Sounded like a grenade went off. It seems that 69kv arrestor got a shot of that 115 and didnt like it too much. You would think it would have failed right when we energized the buss.  BE SAFE and know your surroundings CLIFF