As if transmission towers falling over in downbursts isn't bad enough, badly designed and maintained transmission lines have been fingered in a Utah wildfire that gobbled up 52 homes and killed one.
"A Utah wildfire that destroyed 52 homes and left one man dead was caused by arcing between power transmission lines that were built too closely together and sent a surge to the ground that ignited dry grass, a fire investigator said Wednesday.
The central Utah Wood Hollow Fire began June 23 and wasn't fully contained for 10 days, costing nearly $4 million to fight, according to state officials. Officials said 160 structures total were destroyed.
The 75-square-mile blaze began when winds caused two sets of high-voltage power lines to either touch or swing close enough to each other to create a surge than swept down the poles into dry brush, said Deputy Utah Fire Marshal Troy Mills.
Rocky Mountain Power, which owns the lines, said a thief stripped protective cooper wire from its poles that may have prevented the surge.
"The investigation into the Wood Hollow fire is a top priority for Rocky Mountain Power. We want to understand exactly what happened," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "We are in the process of doing our own detailed technical analysis in addition to cooperating with fire investigators. There are aspects of this investigation that have yet to be fully analyzed."
Mills, however, insisted that even with the copper wire in place, the surge would have easily overwhelmed the protections.
"That is the cause of the fire. There's some things where you've got to take a stand. It is what it is," Mills said.
Some residents of destroyed homes in the area say they're considering a lawsuit against the utility."
Well, there goes the utilities "best practice" of creating transmission corridors with multiple parallel lines, such as PATH's little fantasy of a 138kv line parallel to a 500kv line parallel to a 765kv line, along with their love of steel lattice transmission towers.
Rocky Mountain Power's only defense seems to be to blame it on some phantom vandals who made off with protective wire. Why wasn't the power company inspecting and maintaining their equipment on a regular basis?
Why aren't power companies performing required maintenance? Maybe because it cuts into their bottom line and their first responsibility seems to be to their stockholders, not to the consumers they are supposed to serve.
"A Utah wildfire that destroyed 52 homes and left one man dead was caused by arcing between power transmission lines that were built too closely together and sent a surge to the ground that ignited dry grass, a fire investigator said Wednesday.
The central Utah Wood Hollow Fire began June 23 and wasn't fully contained for 10 days, costing nearly $4 million to fight, according to state officials. Officials said 160 structures total were destroyed.
The 75-square-mile blaze began when winds caused two sets of high-voltage power lines to either touch or swing close enough to each other to create a surge than swept down the poles into dry brush, said Deputy Utah Fire Marshal Troy Mills.
Rocky Mountain Power, which owns the lines, said a thief stripped protective cooper wire from its poles that may have prevented the surge.
"The investigation into the Wood Hollow fire is a top priority for Rocky Mountain Power. We want to understand exactly what happened," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "We are in the process of doing our own detailed technical analysis in addition to cooperating with fire investigators. There are aspects of this investigation that have yet to be fully analyzed."
Mills, however, insisted that even with the copper wire in place, the surge would have easily overwhelmed the protections.
"That is the cause of the fire. There's some things where you've got to take a stand. It is what it is," Mills said.
Some residents of destroyed homes in the area say they're considering a lawsuit against the utility."
Well, there goes the utilities "best practice" of creating transmission corridors with multiple parallel lines, such as PATH's little fantasy of a 138kv line parallel to a 500kv line parallel to a 765kv line, along with their love of steel lattice transmission towers.
Rocky Mountain Power's only defense seems to be to blame it on some phantom vandals who made off with protective wire. Why wasn't the power company inspecting and maintaining their equipment on a regular basis?
Why aren't power companies performing required maintenance? Maybe because it cuts into their bottom line and their first responsibility seems to be to their stockholders, not to the consumers they are supposed to serve.
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