Heavy snow and ice has taken a toll on northland trees this winter. Another downfall last week caused an electric power line to break in Tofte, creating a hazard in the Highway 61 ditch near the Birch Grove Community Center.
A passing motorist contacted Cook County Law Enforcement at 10:52 a.m. on March 16 reporting the downed power line, stating that it was “making a bit of noise.” The law enforcement dispatcher contacted Arrowhead Cooperative, which had also received a call and was on the way to the scene.
A second call came in to law enforcement at 10:57 a.m., reporting that the line was sparking and causing fire in the ditch. The Tofte Fire Department, First Responders and Cook County Ambulance were paged. It was determined that the ambulance would not be needed and it was cancelled. Other responders stood by while Arrowhead lineworkers completed the repair.
Arrowhead Engineering Technician Steve Waver said witnesses did the right thing, staying clear of the downed line and calling 9-1-1 as the broken line was energized or “hot.”
Waver said the line remained “hot” as the electrical system automatically attempted to clear the line, which caused more sparking and smoke. After several tries, the sectionalizing equipment in the Schroeder substation turned off (de-energized) the line.
The Arrowhead crew de-energized the Schroeder substation to safely make the repairs, causing a power outage from Schroeder to the Lutsen Sea Villa area for about 1½ hours.
Less than an hour after the first call, at 11:42 a.m., Cook County Law Enforcement received another call reporting a low hanging power line on West Highway 61. The caller said the line was low enough that an eastbound semi-truck and trailer could possibly hit the line.
Arrowhead workers were on scene at 12:37 p.m. and discovered that the low-hanging line was a fiber optic cable. Waver explained that fiber optic lines share the same utility poles but are most often the lowest lines on the poles—with a neutral line and then the energized electrical line above that. Occasionally a phone line shares the same utility pole as well and it is strung below the fiber optic cable.
Waver said phone and fiber lines are lowest for safety reasons.
In this case, the fiber line was torn down by the heavy ice and snow. Line crews repaired the line along Highway 61 with a Cook County Sheriff Deputy remaining at the site until the work was done at about 1:27 p.m.
There were several other areas that had outages because of the ice and snow, but at press time all active Internet accounts are back online. Waver said work continues to restore some accounts to seasonal residences.
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