Downed Wire Delays: Are Response Time Standards Needed for Power Companies?

Your power bill pays for electricity, but also upkeep and protection from a utility’s high voltage lines.

A recent incident in western Connecticut has raised questions about how quickly power company crews get to the scene of live downed wires in an emergency.

They had a tense situation in Norfolk Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 17, 2023.

During the middle of the workday and work week, a car with a couple in their 80s hit a utility pole on Route 44.

The falling wires brushed Norfolk firefighter Jon Barbagallo’s vehicle.

“Immediately to my left, there's this car on its side, the wheels still spinning, smoking at this point, with a telephone pole transformer and wires down on top of it,” Barbagallo said.

Barbagallo freed himself and called 911.

He said he immediately alerted dispatch this was the most serious of the calls involving downed live wires - what’s known as a Priority One - an incident where lives could be endangered and the power company needs to make a rapid response.

“I stayed right with the vehicle as close as I could get and talked with the couple through the broken rear window,” Barbagallo said.

Litchfield County Dispatch (LCD) then contacted Eversource…on a phone line the Norfolk Fire Department says is only for Priority One situations.

The power company told LCD it remotely de-energized the area, but could not be 100% certain it was safe.

All this, coupled with the time it took Eversource to get to the scene, made the situation stressful for the octogenarians trapped in the car, and their rescuers.

Norfolk Fire Chief Matt Ludwig said an Eversource crew did not get to the scene for over 50 minutes, and took about 15 minutes after that to de-energize and remove live wires.

Ludwig added while there are no set rules for Priority One response times, first responders generally expect utility crews will arrive within 30 minutes because with downed power lines, bad things can happen…fast.

“It could light the vehicle on fire, it can electrocute the people inside the vehicle. If any responders are in the area, it could jump to the responder,” Ludwig said.

Downed Wire Delays in Norfolk

Just ask John Fung. He says his family dog was killed by a live power line that was down four days after Tropical Storm Isaias roared through Connecticut in 2020.

“…Got electrocuted directly from the ground. No more than I would say 30 feet from the playground where my kids play and like it was scary. It's very, very scary,” Fung said.

As for the Norfolk incident, Eversource told us “…our trucks are not emergency vehicles so we can’t respond to calls like police, fire and ambulances do.”

State regulators have initiated an investigation into this incident, so Eversource and regulators cannot comment further. 

However, a source close to the situation tells NBC Connecticut Investigates that Eversource has met with the Norfolk Fire Department.

The source said the utility said on the day of the incident, it had four employees in the western Connecticut grid that Norfolk is a part of.  

The source added that it took the power company about 20 minutes to determine who to send, another 30 minutes for the crew to arrive, plus another 15 minutes to de-energize and remove the power lines.

This isn’t the first time Connecticut first responders have said the state needs to hold power companies more accountable on Priority One response times, some suggest, a 30-minute protocol on Priority One calls.

“There has to be another way to address the situation so that people aren't stuck in a trapped vehicle for an hour,” Ludwig said.

Eversource says it’s open to ideas on ways to improve responses, however, a 30-minute response protocol on Priority One calls might not be feasible in every circumstance.

Spokesperson Tricia Taskey Modifica told us, “They're up working on lines up in a bucket truck, they can't just drop everything, like maybe you or I would in our line of work.”

Taskey Modifica added this is not an issue of having too few line workers. 

“I don't think so. I mean, we have crews working around the state 24/7. We're never going to be exactly where an accident happens and when it happens,” Taskey Modifica said.

The state's other large power company, United Illuminating, provided us with a statement about their Priority One response.

“Public safety is a top priority for United Illuminating, and the company implements a crew rotation that ensures the presence of multiple crews in the field at any given moment, allowing us to respond quickly to an emergency situation such as downed wires. While incident-specific conditions, such as unexpected extreme weather, traffic or other travel restrictions, or multiple concurrent incidents can impact response time, UI works to respond to Priority One events as quickly as possible, and welcomes discussion with state leaders on strategies to ensure continued timely response to emergency situations.”