By Jessica Bruha
The Norman Transcript
NORMAN, Okla. — About 130,000 volts of electricity coursed through live power lines on top of and surrounding two Norman fire trucks Friday, May 8.
Four firefighters were responding to an automatic fire alarm call on Brookfield Drive that day when over 60 mph straight-line winds sent the poles barreling down on the rain soaked roadway and on top of one of the trucks at 48th Avenue Northwest, near Rock Creek Road.
The men were stranded inside the vehicles for over four hours as they waited for electric companies to turn the power off.
Firefighter Brent Hopkins was driving Fire Engine 4, following Capt. Mike Jones and firefighter Dusty Borrer in a grass rig, as they responded to the call around 5:20 p.m. On the way there, rain, wind and hail began to assault the area.
As the firefighters turned onto 48th Avenue, Hopkins said he remembers slowing down and was traveling under 5 mph in the engine truck. Jones, leading in the grass rig, said they traveled about 100-150 yards down 48th Avenue when he saw the poles begin to fall down like dominoes.
Firefighter David Perry, who was riding with Hopkins, said when they rounded the corner, he could see the pole leaning, but before the words could escape his mouth it was too late.
“The next thing I know, I look up and I see poles falling down and it’s actually coming right towards my window,” Hopkins said. “So I slam on the breaks and just lean back.”
Right before he thought it was going to impact his window, Hopkins said it caught on a telephone cable, flipped around the mirror and slammed into the windshield. Glass flew everywhere and the live power lines began to hit the truck.
“That’s when the light show started. It was just like the sun exploded inside the cab of the truck,” he said. “I really thought that pole was going to hit me in the head. I really did.”
For a moment after it happened, Jones said he thought he felt a light surge of energy. His first instinct was to radio the engine behind him and try to make contact, but there was no answer.
“My first thought was maybe something bad happened because we couldn’t really see behind us. You can’t really see behind a grass rig because of the tanks,” Jones said.
A minute later he heard Perry on the radio talking to dispatch and said he was glad to hear his voice. The electric companies were called and they were told to sit tight until it was confirmed there was no power in the lines.
Deputy Fire Chief Jim Bailey said both companies had to be contacted because OG&E’s lines ran on the west side of the road and OEC’s ran on the east side. When the lines fell in together toward the road, they intermingled. They also had to wait to get a special crane in order to pull the poles back up.
“I was glad it hit the truck and not the brush rig, because if it had done that, those guys probably wouldn’t have been alive,” Perry said.
Hopkins said he had glass in his boots, glass in his hair and there was glass everywhere in the cab, but they made the best of the situation. Although the men were stranded in the vehicles, they continued to do what they could to keep those around them safe.
After the rain let up, about 10 minutes after the incident, the firefighters saw three people walking down the middle of the road between the live power lines. Jones said he got on the PA system and told them to stop walking, which they did, but they still stepped over the lines to get out of the road.
“We had a lot of people coming from that neighborhood out, I guess to see what was going on,” Jones said. “So they (Hopkins and Perry) were honking their horn on the engine anytime they saw anybody approaching the lines...and I was getting on our PA.”
Hopkins said that’s all they could do because they were still energized in the engine.
“If power lines are down, they need to be assumed that they’re energized,” Bailey said. “Just because you don’t see it sparking and arching and jumping doesn’t mean it’s not energized.”
“In this circumstance, with all the water they had down there, even if these guys would’ve jumped out of the truck, they could’ve been electrocuted just because of the wet ground.”
Hopkins said they have been trained how to handle situations like that and tell people what to do when they’re in a car and the lines are energized.
“You don’t move. You stay. You don’t touch anything. You don’t do anything,” he said.
So they waited. And waited. And waited some more. Even when they were told the electric company said they were 99.5 percent sure the power was off, they continued to wait.
“When they say they’re only 99.5 percent sure, you’re not getting out of that truck because those power lines still have surges in them,” Perry said.
Finally, around 9:30 p.m. they were clear to leave. Aside from a busted windshield, Engine 4 had visible damage on the ladder, which sits on top of the truck, as well as several dents and dings.
The live power lines even burned several areas of the truck. A bar bolted on the right side of the truck has a hole that looked big enough to stick a finger through.
While firefighters have responded to many calls to help people who have power lines come down on their vehicles, it was a first for the four men and the first they had heard of it happening to anyone in a fire truck. Luckily, no one was injured.
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(c)2015 The Norman Transcript (Norman, Okla.)
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