By KATH GANNAWAY
A POWER pole meltdown in Millgrove last week has sparked a call for greater vigilance in identifying and fixing potential problems ahead of next summer.
Millgrove resident Frank Mutaers was alarmed to see a scorched power pole and melted telephone cables on the corner of Tulloch Street and River Road after a power outage in the early hours of Monday 8 July.
Mr Mutaers said his immediate thought was that had the incident happened on a hot summer night, instead of in the middle of winter, the result could have been very different.
“I was told by SP Ausnet that it was a Krone box that was at fault and while it didn’t create a power failure for long, there was a significant amount of fire there to be concerned.
“My main concern is if this had been in summer, from the evidence you can see at the bottom of the pole and from the burnt pieces I have here, this could have caused a massive fire,” he said.
“Something like this just shouldn’t happen.”
He called on SP Ausnet to be more vigilant with their maintenance program, but said the community in general had a role to play.
“If people see trees growing among power poles, or branches hanging over lines, they need to tell SP Ausnet; look up at the poles and see what condition they are in,” Mr Mutaers said.
“We have been burnt once and we don’t want it to happen again,” he said adding that the next six months was a window of opportunity for everyone to look around for anything that could be hazardous.
“If you see something, let SP Ausnet know so they can assess it,” he said.
A spokesperson for SP Ausnet confirmed a faulty Krone box on the power pole was the cause of the problem and affected power supply to 25 properties,
He said SP AusNet despatched crews immediately, isolated and then repaired the damaged piece of equipment.
“SP AusNet apologises for the inconvenience,” he said.
“If customers experience power outages, please report the fault by calling 13 17 99.”
