Mohave Electric Cooperative crews worked diligently on April 26 afternoon to restore power to Golden Shores members after a kite became entangled in power lines.
There were additional members indirectly impacted, such as businesses that did not lose power, but the internet supplier did, leaving them unable to process credit cards.
“Mohave Electric goes to great lengths to educate its members and their family about potential hazards,” said Rick Campos, manager of engineering, operations, and energy services at MEC. “Just four weeks earlier we had the Making Accidents Disappear magician appear in seven elementary schools.
“His message: Stop. Look. Think. The meaning is to take a moment before engaging in outdoor activities to look at the surroundings and think about whether it might be better to move to a more open area if power lines are above. This was a preventable outage.”
When the kite became entangled in overhead power lines, they shorted out and the wire fell to the ground.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries,” Campos said. “However, had the kite string been wet, or had it started drizzling outside, the situation could have been much different.”
Approximately 900 members and their families ended up without power for just under three hours beginning at 3:20 p.m. MEC crews made repairs and power was restored at 6:12 p.m.
“Kites in contact with power lines can cause a significant amount of damage,” Campos said. “It’s important to know your surroundings. If there are power lines above, the best course of action is to move to another location.”
Kites aren’t the only potential hazard. Tree limbs touching power lines can be hazardous to anyone climbing the tree. Balloons have also been a problem for power providers around the nation.
And when a line ends up on the ground, as was the case in Golden Shores, it’s important to steer clear and contact MEC as soon as possible. If there are injuries involved, or a line has fallen on a house or vehicle, contact 911.
“Treat any downed line as if it is energized,” Campos said.
It is also important members never try to dislodge anything caught in a power line.
“Wait for MEC crews to arrive and stay clear of lines on the ground,” Campos said. “They are the professionals and have all the safety equipment necessary to handle such situations.”
MEC recommends reporting an outage 24/7 365 days a year using the MEC toll-free Outage Reporting Line (844) 632-2667.
The automated outage reporting system integrates member information with operations and system information making outage reporting faster and easier for members while allowing MEC to speed up the response and restoration efforts. For outage reporting to work best your member account information must be current. Outage restoration is important to MEC and every effort is made to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
