Power Poles on Fire in Texas

sounds like they went cheap on a faulty component

cost them more in the long run,nothing new ey.

imagine driving along timed well enough for them to ignite,as you pass them.

now that would be freaky

reply to post by littled16


Most likely it would only affect older wooden power poles.
Most urban areas have converted to metal poles.

But, there are exceptions. I live in a glorified village and I'll be darned if they didn't just in the last month
install some huge metal power poles in the middle of town. These things are about 8 feet in circumference, at least, at the bottom, if not larger.

I am going to take an informal survey on my commute tomorrow to see how many creosote poles there are still, versus metal poles.

This is a really nice first thread, OP.

Originally posted by Romanian
Solar activity is below average, so we can exclude it.

ya i checked out spaceweather.. all quiet.. but what's this from NASA....
projected to hit on the 8th tho...
iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov:8080...:54:00&window=-1&cygnetId=261

I heard on the radio this morning about that (I live in Fort Worth). My first thought was of a story on how "terrorists" would use rifles to target transformers. Maybe they've been plinking...

As for the dust theory, when I heard that I thought that was the weakest explanation I've ever heard. I've lived in Texas since 1977. NEVER EVER have poles caught on fire becuase they were "dusty". Add to that these poles all decided to let the dust get to them and spontaniously burst in flames AT THE SAME TIME ???

There is more to this than meets the eye.

And yes, Texas has their own grid.

Oh, and while we're talking electricity... prediction: TXU (a large electric company here in Texas, the original that provided electricity before deregualtion) will go bankrupt within one year. Count on it.

settle down folks. It's simply HAARP running some tests

reply to post by PaperbackWriter

We only have wooden poles around here, but they replaced most of the power lines and transformers after a couple of hurricanes (one 7 and one 5 years ago). I think there are some metal poles in the biggest city around here, but even there it's mostly wooden poles.

I agree, it's a great first thread. I'm glad the OP is getting lots of S&Fs!

The one near Dallas is the one that seems out of place.
Could that be a coincidence? Same exact type of fire?

Thanks everyone !

Maybe fog/mist on dusty poles isn't that far-fetched. It was the reason ascribed to a similar incident last month in the Rio Grande Valley.

McALLEN (November 16, 2012) — More than 18,000 Rio Grande Valley residents lost power Friday after utility poles caught fire.

AEP Texas reported more than 18,000 customers across Hidalgo, Starr, Cameron and Willacy counties lost power Friday morning after the fires. At one point, roughly one-third of all AEP Texas’ Starr County customers lost electricity, according to the company’s website.

Mist that rolled across the Valley early Friday morning dampened dirt and dust clinging to utility equipment, said AEP Community Affairs Manager Lee Jones. Insulation units on the utility poles began conducting electricity, thanks to the unusual combination of wind-blown dust and moisture, and caught fire.

source

reply to post by Shadoefax


Oh wow. Thanks. Well this seems like a pretty dangerous thing actually.

This was an email alert I received this morning from the sheriff's office. This is in the Rockwall/Garland area east of Dallas on I-30.

Advisory: I-30 closed in both directions due to utility pole fire. WB closed 205 to Bass Pro. EB closed Bobtown to Horizon. Please find alt routes

This may be stupid and God knows particle physics are way over my head but remember not long ago when the large hadron collider was running an experiment shooting subatomic particles though the earth at Italy ? It should stick in every ones memory because they seemed to be moving faster than the speed of light .
I wonder if it's possible they're trying it on a grander scale and they're aim is off .

You worried for nothing OP. this was a great first thread! What a mystery this is?? I have never heard of such a thing happening anywhere, so I'm glad you brought it to our attention. Since you have your own grid, I would assume it would definitely play a part in whatever is going on?? There are much more knowledgable posters here, in the field, that could have some good theories...s&f

reply to post by davjan4
If the poles were along busy highways it's possible the "dust" was metallic in nature due brake dust from passing cars. The combination of conductive brake dust and heavy fog could create enough leakage over the insulators to ignite creosote soaked poles.

I live in Rockwall Tx, and got stuck in some serious traffic on Hwy 30 near Rowlett due to a burning power pole. We also had a Heavy Fog this morning too.

We live in the Waco area, and my husband had to come home due to loss of power at work. They said this afternoon that they were not sure of the cause.

Wow!

Glad I'm north of 635. We didn't seem to have any unusual traffic today. I stayed in Collin County and didn't even realize this was an issue until a few minutes ago.

It seems the fire started around 10 a.m. which is around the time the fog started to lift so Im leaning towards this as our cause. I work outdoors also and nothing felt strange...would i feel strong solar flares? Im guessing Yes!

Originally posted by elfrog
reply to post by davjan4

 

If the poles were along busy highways it's possible the "dust" was metallic in nature due brake dust from passing cars. The combination of conductive brake dust and heavy fog could create enough leakage over the insulators to ignite creosote soaked poles.

Yea In real life that doesn't happen.
There are only a few possible causes if the story is true.
It basically boils down to a power surge. The question would be the source of the surge.
Maybe someone hacked the grid?
Possible but not likely lightning?
Solar activity causing equipment failure???

reply to post by schmae


I'm not sure what to think of this hypothesis but this thread brings to mind the JumpingJackFlash theory. Just tossing it out there.
jumpingjackflashhypothesis.blogspot.com...

Originally posted by thudpuddy
This may be stupid and God knows particle physics are way over my head but remember not long ago when the large hadron collider was running an experiment shooting subatomic particles though the earth at Italy ? It should stick in every ones memory because they seemed to be moving faster than the speed of light .
I wonder if it's possible they're trying it on a grander scale and they're aim is off .

You might be onto something thudpuddy. Several years ago a group of friends of mine (all welders who worked for the same company) worked up somewhere around the Dallas/Fort Worth area for almost two years making bigtime money (way above scale with all expenses paid). They claimed to have been working on something similar to the Hadron Collider and that it was built in a huge underground complex. They said they had to take a wire cage elevator down to work every day. I don't know anything more than that,but a few of the guys still live in the area. If I run across one of them I will ask for more information.