That is the 2 towers that were holding the wire. Notice how the 1 bar is bent down. Yeah that is the wire that decided to bounce and come down in my back yard.
There you can see the mark it left on the ground. There are a coule patches dug up. That is where the wire arced on the ground it left those divots in our back yard.
There they are up close. That is what it looks like close up by them. Here is where the dirt got charred itself. DIRT!
If you look real close to the piece that is under the single blade of grass you will see the char marks.
That is the tree that the wire was on. My daughters swing was hanging from that tree all summer....
That is where the internet and cable came in from. Nice char marks on them.
So time for the full story. Yesterday at about 9:45am EST i am just about to get ready to go over my sisters house for Thanksgiving. I am doing a final check on email.
All of a sudden i see a bright *** flash. Like lightning but worse. Then i hear a boom that is so loud it sounds like a anti aircraft missle just hit my ears. I RUN downstairs cause the baby was down there and she was scared...
Wife is still out like a light. That didnt wake her. As i get to my daughter and pick her up yet another flash and BOOM. So i look outside and the wire that would eventually end up on my tree and across my backyard is dancing in midair like it was alive. It was bouncing like the ropes of the WWE do when people are thrown against them. This thing is just going OFF.
I get upstairs and change the baby's diaper. Get the wife up and tell her to get baby ready and i dial the Power Companies Emergency Number. IT IS A FRAKING AUTOMATED SERVICE!!!
I flip out. I cant get anyone on the line and as soon as i end the call there is another flash and BOOM. So i dial 911 Emergency Services. This one just made my morning. Talk to this chick. Now i am not sexist but this chick was dumb.
First i try to explain what was going on. I tell her that there is a power line down in my back yard. That last big boom finally bent the supports and dropped the line. She then proceeds to start typing something on the PC console she is at and then asks me again "What is your emergency"
So i tell her again that there is a power line down in my back yard. She tells me that she has already notified NYSEG (The power company over here). She then proceeds to say "Is there anything Emergency Services can do for you today?"
Right then another BOOM. Now i see smoke coming from somewhere in my backyard. I am a.) ****ed at the power company for their lack of emergency service numbers and b.) ****ed at this ***** on 911 telling me that the power company was notified and everything was under control. I am sorry but WTF did you jsut say to me lady?
So now i go off. I know it is being recorded. I proceed to tell this idiot on the phone that i have a baby in this house, that there is smoke raising from my backyard from this power line that has come down and that she may want to think about notifying the State Police (No locals Cops here) and the Fire Department cause of the smoke coming from MY BACKYARD. Not from the neighbors MY HOUSE.
At this time the Wife was downstairs and hysterical. I tell her to call her father and see if she can go crash there. I run back up stairs and change my clothes to the first thing i can find. A pair of shorts and a T Shirt. I grab the babies diaper bag, juice, some snacks and get the wife organized for the stuff she needs.
We get out the door and are loading up the car when the first set of Volunteer Fire Fighters get there. I tell them what i know, wish them luck cause i was getting my family away from it.
Dropped the wife off at her dads place to sleep for the day before she went to work. I went off to my sisters house where we stayed there for the day and then went to dinner together.
Sadly the cat was left in the master bedroom. Just no way to get the kitty and everyone else. I had to much goin thru my mind to worry about kitty. but she had food water and her litter box with her in the room.
I had basically shut down the main power to the house. Just in case. I didnt know what else to do with that.
Got a call from the wife at 7PM as she was at work and said that she stopped home to see that the wire was off the ground and being put back up and that power was on. Sadly after the wire dropped to the ground it had arced a few times and fired, literally fried the wires, ground box and the splitter i had for my cable/internet hook up. That was all replaced today.
So that is my story.
