Break at pole kills power through all of Falmouth
By Burton Cole
FALMOUTH — A broken crossarm on a utility pole in a remote area south of town caused a power outage that kept the city and southern Pendleton County in the dark for more than 12 hours Friday.
The massive outage began about 5 a.m. Friday when the crossbar arm for the high-voltage main transmission line broke. The five-mile-long line takes power to the substation behind the Pendleton County Farm Bureau building at 400 Main St.
Doug Buresh, president and CEO of Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency, said about 4,000 meters were affected, and the entire town was without power until about 6:15 p.m.
“That line is due to be rebuilt very soon,” Buresh said.
Kentucky Utilities flew a helicopter the length of the line to find the problem.
Chris Whelan of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company said that due to the steep and rough terrain and mucky ground from the downpour the day before, it was difficult to get to the pole to fix it.
“They thought they were going to have to bulldoze a road to get to it,” Mike Moore, director of Pendleton County Emergency Management, said. “Where it was at it was difficult getting equipment to.”
KU finally was able to get trucks through and repair work began.
The power company noted that it called in additional resources to help make repairs.
Crossbar arms are large pieces and breaks are rare, Whelan said.
“We don’t know what caused it,” she said.
The company speculates it was damaged in the storm Thursday.
At 4:45 p.m. Friday, KU posted: “Crews are in progress of replacing broken pole components. Work is taking longer than expected due to the remote location.”
Friday was sunny and clear. Had the outage occurred during a rainy and windy day, repairs likely would have taken longer. As it was, repairs took longer than expected, Whelan said.
“We appreciate the patience of Falmouth and its residents,” she said.
Moore said his agency was prepared to open a shelter if the outage continued overnight.
“We stood ready to help people with whatever they needed, but what they needed was their power on,” which was the one thing over which Emergency Management had no control, he said.
Moore said he knew of no medical emergencies or other emergencies problems caused by the outage “other than people being angry at not having power.”
There was a report of an ambulance assisting one resident who was receiving oxygen treatment.
Three Rivers District Health Department advised residents to open refrigerator doors as little as possible to keep it cool inside, but that foods that require refrigeration should be thrown away if the refrigerator temperature was
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