Fire Rescue News - Egg Harbor Township considers charging Atlantic City Electric when firefighters guard downed lines
Egg Harbor Township fire officials say Atlantic City Electric is taking too long to respond when wires are downed, and that fire crews are spending excessive amounts of time guarding the scene while waiting for crews to cut the electricity.
Volunteer firefighters sometimes wait hours for paid utility workers to show up. Each side has its priorities. But whether the township could force the issue by....Continue Reading
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demanding compensation is unclear - it's never been tested and could end up in court.
Several times this summer, fire crews have waited more than four hours, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the blazing sun, for Atlantic City Electric crews to arrive and shut off the power, Fire Chief Bill Danz said. In at least one case, the fire company left after four hours of securing the area, even though live wires remained on the road.
Danz said he is so concerned about the issue that he has asked the township to look into whether it can allow the fire company to charge the electric company when it takes excessive amounts of time for repair crews to arrive.
"My squawk is they can get a trouble truck there or send a supervisor out in a pickup truck. There's no need for the fire department to sit on the scene for three to four hours until the electric (company) decides to get there," Danz said. "My people are all volunteers. Nobody gets paid, including me, not a dime. They get called out at 2 a.m. and wait until 6 a.m. and go home and take a shower and go to work. It's not fair."
Township Administrator Peter Miller said he is looking into whether such an ordinance is possible, whether other municipalities in New Jersey have one and whether it's been effective. Mayor James J. "Sonny" McCullough said he thinks the electric company needs to respond faster and that it should not be the fire company's job to wait for excessive amounts of time.
Utility unaware of concerns
Atlantic City Electric spokeswoman Sandra May said this summer's extreme storms caused widespread damage and affected the company's response times. The company has a restoration process that prioritizes downed live wires and potentially life-threatening situations.
"Our first focus is on addressing health and safety and restoring service to customers as quickly and safely as possible," she said.
May said the inquiry from The Press of Atlantic City was the first she had heard of the issue.
"We have an ongoing relationship with the local officials, and we've not been approached regarding this specific situation. But we're more than willing to sit down and discuss whatever issues that the local officials may have," she said. She did not comment on a potential ordinance charging the company when crews take too long to respond.
Miller said he spoke by phone with a company representative earlier this month who said Egg Harbor Township fire officials "had been somewhat disrespectful" to Atlantic City Electric workers.
"My discussion with him was ... OK, our guys will be a little more courteous, but you have to remember that you folks didn't have any timely response. It's your downed lines, not ours. You're not compensating us, and we're providing services," Miller said.
Legal battle possible
Matthew Weng, staff attorney for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said he has never heard of such an ordinance, and if Egg Harbor Township did enact a local ordinance to cover firefighters' time, it likely would be challenged in court to set precedent.
"The first time (Atlantic City Electric) gets a fine, they're going to try to fight that in court and there will be a drawn-out battle," Weng said. "I can understand in part the firefighters' frustration on (the delays), but I'm not sure fining the power company would be the proper way to go about that."
The fire company regularly handles calls about arcing wires, downed wires and downed trees. When live electrical wires are involved, fire crews cannot do anything other than secure the area and wait for the power to be cut, Danz said. Once the firefighters arrive, the power company is contacted within five minutes, he said.
"A lot of these times, they can send someone out there, a safety guy or a supervisor with a pickup truck with a flashing light and he can sit there until the line crew gets there. That's better than tying up a half-dozen firefighters and a fire truck half the night.," Danz said. The department can't send out a truck with just one man, he said.
‘Watching the pole burn'
In one July incident, a tree limb fell on wires in a trailer park. The wires were grounding through a holly tree. An older resident came out and offered to remove the fallen limb from the live wires, Danz said. But the branch likely was electrified. Fire crews were out there for four hours before a line crew arrived to shut off the power, Danz said. In another incident, when a vehicle accident on the Black Horse Pike caused wires to fall, fire crews were out in extreme heat for at least three hours, waiting for power crews to come.
In a third case, it took so long for crews to arrive to downed wires that the wires eventually burned through primary lines, landing less than 5 feet from a 250-pound propane tank, Danz said. Danz said he finally talked to an electric company supervisor and told him how much the fire department's time is worth, though he would not disclose that to The Press of Atlantic City because the township still is developing the ordinance.
"Within 15 minutes two trouble trucks arrived," he said.
"The residents were irate because they had been calling the electric company for hours, and we can't put water on the electric lines because it's (electrified)," Danz said.
Early last month, lightning set a power pole on fire at Fire and Delilah roads. The company said it killed the electricity, but the fire company said it would not put anything out until a line crew came out to verify the line wasn't hot. "We offered to give a guy in the trouble truck a hose to put it out, and he said no," Danz said. Four hours later, Danz said, he sent all fire crews home. They blocked the road, secured the area and let the pole burn down. The worst thing, he said, was "I watched line trucks pull out of their yard and drive toward Absecon while we were standing there, watching the pole burn."
Mays Landing Volunteer Fire Company Chief Dave Connelly said he has not noticed an increase in response times, other than during severe weather. There was one power outage this summer, following a severe thunderstorm that blew many trees and power lines down, when fire crews eventually left the scene waiting for power crews to arrive, he said. "If they say they have a 15-20 minute ETA, they're usually there," he said. "But there have been some where we've waited over an hour, maybe two."
Connelly said he does wish the power company would meet with area fire officials to discuss how to improve response times. He also suggested that the company and fire officials examine the idea that after significant outages, line crews go around first to cut live wires to improve overall community safety rather than fixing each line one-by-one.
Contact Sarah Watson: 609-272-7216 SWatson@pressofac.com
This story was taken from the news source stated above. It's content and comments are not necessarily the opinion of The Elwood Vol. Fire Company or it's members.
