clark@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Roger Clark Swann) (10/27/89)
I know that the following is not directly phone related, but is
utility related and it is a followup to some of the recent postings
here.
Reprinted without permission
The Seatle Times - Thursday, October 26, 1989
High-voltage Theft Cuts Lester's Power
It was a high-wire act of the high voltage variety. During recent
weeks, thieves scaled a utility tower in a desolate area of
southeastern King County, disconnected cables - some of which were
live - and made away with 11,000 feet of copper wire worth $14,700 to
the company, although far less if sold to a scrap metal dealer.
"It is one of the dumbest things I've heard of," said Puget Power
spokeswoman Jude Noland. Coming into cantact with the 7,200-volt
current of the power lines would be like experiencing "your own
personal San Francisco earthquake," Noland said. "It is extremely
risky."
Police and Puget Power officials speculate that the thieves are
experienced line workers. They also had to be well equipped: The wire
weighed several tons and would require a commercial winch to roll, a
Puget Power official said.
Noland said the theft was discovered late last week when a worker
sought the cause of an outage that affected customers in Lester and
the National Weather Service station nearby.
Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark
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