Excitement on the Project

There was a bit of excitement on the Yelm Highway Project last week. Here is what happened as described by project inspector Gordon Coleman:

Arcing electricity was noticed on one of the power lines along Yelm Highway on July 7th. Since it was one of the hottest days so far this summer, the extra demand contributed by air conditioners was guessed to have been the cause. The arcing then caused heated material to fall to the ground, igniting the grass below. An employee from Woodworth & Co. driving a water truck notice the fire and was able to quickly extinguish the flames. For safety traffic was shut down for approximately half an hour while Potelco assessed and fixed the problem. It was also determined the arcing was not caused by construction since the power lines are on a completely separate system from Yelm Hwy's electricity system.


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Here is a short video of the arcing power, captured by Gordon:

video ©2010 G. Coleman